MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2023
Approaching 60,000 reviews
and more.. and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


CD REVIEW
RECORDING OF THE MONTH


Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

alternatively AmazonUK AmazonUS


Hugues DUFOURT (b. 1943)
Le Cyprès blanc (2004)a [33:11]
Surgir (1984) [27:56]
Gérard Caussé (viola)a
Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg/Pierre-André Valade
rec. Conservatoire, Luxembourg, September 2004 (Le Cyprès blanc) ; Philharmonie, Luxembourg, June 2006 (Surgir)
TIMPANI 1C1112 [61:01] 
Experience Classicsonline


A few years ago I reviewed a very fine recording of Dufourt’s beautiful cycle Les Hivers (Aeon AECD 0209). In order not to repeat myself I had best refer readers to that review for general information about Hugues Dufourt’s career and achievement as well as his music.

This recent release from Timpani, one of the most adventurous present-day labels, presents two substantial and sizeable scores written some twenty years apart. It allows a fair appreciation of Dufourt’s musical progress both in its diversity and in its remarkable formal and intellectual coherence.

The earliest work here, Surgir, is scored for large orchestra and might be considered a concerto for orchestra exploring the many expressive facets offered by the modern symphonic orchestra. The first twelve minutes or so of this imposing score are marked by an increase in intensity from the subdued, ominous opening onwards moving into a more animated, rhythmically intricate section. There follows a long slow central section exploring a wide range of instrumental combinations and thus creating a fascinating sound-world. This section is never really static, for – as in much else in Dufourt’s music – there is considerable activity under a deceptively static surface. The music eventually lives up to the title in the final ebullient, almost violent section. This is then abruptly cut short by a nervous, exasperated gesture.

Composed twenty years later, Le Cyprès blanc is a monumental piece for viola and large orchestra, although not a real concerto, but rather a Sonata da chiesa, as the present annotator suggests. Le Cyprès blanc (“The White Cypress”) is, so we are told, “an image found in some Orphic texts dating from the 7th century BC … that of a tree of light, which shows the dying soul how to escape from the world to reach the hereafter”. As so much else in Dufourt’s output, the poetic idea suggested either by a text or an image never gives way to the descriptive or the programmatic. As I mentioned in my earlier review of Les Hivers, the music remains essentially abstract. This does not mean that expression and communication are completely obliterated. Indeed, for all its complexity, the music retains a remarkable expressive strength, not least in this gripping and often quite beautiful work. Le Cyprès blanc is on a fairly long time-span, and the music unfolds slowly but with considerable inner logic. The work opens with a long orchestral introduction starting from the depths of the orchestra and on the verge of inaudibility; but the music soon asserts itself calmly but not without ominous undertones, paving the way for the first entry of the soloist - at some 8 minutes into the work. The soloist will then be continuously present until the end, when the music will fade away into nothingness whence it came. In the meantime, however, the music will be packed with incident. Thus, the at first somewhat hesitant soloist soon asserts himself with a growing agitation that is eventually released in a forceful quick section that the composer describes as “a tormented sea episode” unfolding in mighty crushing waves. There follows a long slower episode consisting of several songs of farewell, a series of serene cantabiles that the composer describes as “an unending peroration” that is nevertheless punctuated by some uneasy gestures. After a short-lived but imposing climax, the music slowly dissolves away, thus bringing the piece to its rounded conclusion. What is most remarkable in this magnificent work is Dufourt’s ability to work in long time-spans with unflagging logic and a refinement of orchestral palette that never obscures the soloist. Le Cyprès blanc is one of the most beautiful and gripping recent works that I have heard.

This is a truly magnificent release, of the kind we have all come to expect from Timpani and from the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, a now indispensable body as far as contemporary music is concerned. Gérard Caussé plays beautifully throughout with impeccable technique and supreme musicality, while Valade conducts vital and assured readings of these often exacting scores. Full marks to all concerned.

Hubert Culot


 


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools




Return to Review Index

Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.