There are some distinguished names involved here (cellist David Geringas gives a finely controlled reading of Trois Strophes, and oboist Maurice Bourgue is heard in Citations), and this set gains further authority from the composer’s own participation as one of two pianists in Figures et Résonances and as accompanist in Deux Sonnets de Jean Cassou, with baritone Gilles Cachemaille. In general, these are all short works, but each presents a vivid impression of the fastidious personality behind the notes, and so if you’re at all curious to investigate Dutilleux’s chamber music, you can’t really go wrong with this bargain two-CD set.
The centerpiece of Disc 2 is the Quatuor Sine Nomine’s account of Ainsi le nuit (“Thus says the night”) of 1977. What makes this performance so persuasive is the players’ skill at characterizing these pieces with such a high degree of vitality and intensity, and indeed these French performers seem more at home with Dutilleux’s unusual idiom than either the Juilliard Quartet (Sony/1992) or the Petersen Quartet (Capriccio/1989). The second section (“Miroir d’espace”) and finale (“Temps suspendu”) provide such an extraordinary array of timbres, harmonies, and disembodied effects that you’re left amazed by the extent to which a conventional string quartet can assume unimagined new identities! Les Citations, for oboe, harpsichord, double bass, and percussion (1985) also is very moving, and here, as with the other performances in this collection, recorded sound is naturally transparent and believably balanced. Skilled, highly authoritative performances, bolstered by the composer’s own insert note annotations make this a winner. [10/21/2001]
