ArtistInfo

Henri Dutilleux, Pascal Dusapin, Arditti Quartet
Henri Dutilleux / Pascal Dusapin

Album FR 1994 on Montaigne label
Classical (Modern, Contemporary)

It's an ironic characteristic of 20th-century music in general that Dutilleux, a modern master of orchestral music and large scale forms, might have produced his masterpiece with Ainsi la nuit, a string quartet of 17 minutes. Yet the intimate medium bears the weight of his succinct lyricism and dense passion, with the economy characteristic of a great composer of his maturity. Pascal Dusapin's two quartets, following his elder colleague's masterwork on this disc, don't fare quite as well: Dusapin is a gifted young French composer fascinated with the sounds of New York minimalism, but his sonorous writing, however pleasing, seem simplistic and overbearing when placed next to Dutilleux's music. Dutilleux's quartet alone, however, more than justifies the purchase of this record; and the Arditti Quartet, as always, is superb. --Joshua Cody

Musicians

	Henri Dutilleux p, 1916-2013 FR album by
	Pascal Dusapin voc, p, perc, *1955 FR album by
	Arditti Quartet , *1974 GB album by
	Rohan de Saram vc, *1939 LK cello
	Garth Knox vl, *1956 IE viola
	David Alberman vn, GB violin
	Irvine Arditti vn, *1953 GB violin

Composers

ArtistInfo App

Acknowledgements

ArtistInfo for Mac, iPad, and iPhone