On this count alone, John Chen’s recording is the one to have and cherish. John Ogdon’s mighty but sometimes wild recording of the Sonata (EMI Classics) may have been deleted, while Maria-Josephe Jude’s scintillating reading (Harmonia Mundi), taken at a faster clip, is not easily available these days.

One might want to seek out Anne Queffelec’s very fine selection (on Virgin Classics), which has a marginally better sound and includes Figures de Resonances for two pianos not found here. The other short pieces are by no means inconsequential and are accorded the same care and respect.ĭutilleux’s piano music on disc is a relative rarity. In Au gré des ondes, a suite of six short pieces conceived as radio interludes, a simpler tonal idiom returns and is easy on the ear. However on a recording, Chen is able to “switch channels” comfortably and he delivers with aplomb. When placed after the Sonata, the contrast is stark. Despite his obvious affinity for the music, all he did was to bore off the socks of the audience – a no-no. I heard one pianist perform these in another competition. The Three Préludes – of three decades later and almost atonal in idiom – are made of much sterner material.

This is ever more remarkable when one considers that this recording was made when he was only 19*. Over and above the requisite virtuosity, there is colour and nuance in his playing, with little hint of caution or the fear of being overawed. John Chen, winner of the 2004 Sydney International Piano Competition, does exactly that. When performed with a coherent and intelligent grasp of the work’s three-movement architecture and a freewheeling disregard for its complexities, a compelling reading is assured. The final movement’s Choral and Variations is often played on its own it has “showpiece” written all over. There is much scope for digital dexterity and its tonal (and often jazzy) post-Debussyan palette is also a crowd pleaser. In truth, this is a mixed bag of non-homogeneous pieces spanning some thirty years, of which only two – the Sonata and Three Préludes – would be considered major works.ĭutilleux’s only piano sonata is a beloved of piano competition participants. Having grown up within the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester and trained with Bernard Haitink, Pierre Boulez and Claudio Abbado, Capuçon associates his commitments as a soloist with chamber music performances with leading artists such as Martha Argerich, Daniel Barenboim and Lisa Batiashvili.A great French pianist once told me he wasn’t going to record the piano works of Henri Dutilleux (born 1916) because the composer had regarded these as mostly early works and unrepresentative of his oeuvre. 1 2 It has since become one of the most acclaimed post-World War II works in the genre 1 3 and has been championed by major pianists such as John Ogdon, Robert Levin, John Chen and Claire-Marie Le Guay. It was dedicated to and premièred by his wife Geneviève Joy on 30 April 1948. In just a few years, Capuçon has become the spokesman for a style that combines tenderness and virtuosity, enhanced by the sonority – sometimes full-bodied, sometimes light - of his 1701 Matteo Goffriller cello. Henri Dutilleux wrote his only piano sonata in 1947-1948. Along with his almost contemporary Béla Bartók, he was the most representative composer of Hungarian music of the past century, distinguishing himself through his passionate interest and love for authentic Hungarian folklore, which the gipsy-like 'Hungarian' music of Liszt and Brahms had perverted. For over fifty years, Sacher was the soul and chief conductor of the Basel Chamber Orchestra, an ensemble that promoted and created numerous contemporary works. Henri Dutilleux's piece composed to celebrate Paul Sacher's 70th birthday and dedicated to Mstislav Rostropovitch is not to be outdone. Listening to Bach's Cello Suites always leads the listener to wonder how it is possible to concentrate in a single instrument – foreign to soloist use before Bach – such quality and variety of technique and invention, instrumental play and soul, rationality and poetry. The new programme enhances both his instrument and virtuoso skills. The cellist Gautier Capuçon is coming back to Lugano to conclude his artistic residence interrupted in March 2020. Paganini - Variations - Jérôme Ducros - Gautier Capucon Rachmaninoff 6 mains - Romance - Philippe Jaroussky - Jerome Ducros - Gautier Capuçon Trois strophes sur le nom de Sacher for solo cello

Dutilleux piano sonata piano sonority