drmuerte

Claude Glayman's conversations with the French composer Henri Dutilleux were originally published in 1997, with this English translation appearing in 2003. I have a growing fascination for Dutilleux's music, but these interviews didn't prove satisfying at all. The problem is that the book doesn't really teach you anything new about Dutilleux's music, doesn't deepen one's appreciation of these beautiful but enigmatic works. For the most part, it breaks down into a chronology of Dutilleux's career that is little more than name-dropping (who commissioned this, who premiered that). There is then a discussion of the contemporary music scene that again is little more than name-dropping. To a degree, this name-dropping is informative in that it tempers Dutilleux's reputation as an outsider in the French musical scene. As distinct as his style is, he shows himself very aware of the very latest developments in contemporary music (amazingly for a man over 80 years old at the time) and has positive things to say about e.g. Murail, Dusapin and even Boulez. But as a source of information on the musical works, this book proved a complete waste of time.

2022-11-14 17:14