Piano Sonata (Dutilleux)

Henri Dutilleux wrote his only piano sonata in 1947-1948.

It was dedicated to and premièred by his wife Geneviève Joy on 30 April 1948.[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.

Although Dutilleux had been active as a composer for ten years when he wrote his piano sonata, he viewed it as his Opus 1, the first work that he considered up to his mature standards.[2][4]

Debussy, Ravel,[4] Bartók and Prokofiev[5] have been cited as influences on the piece although critics have also stressed that its language is original and distinctive,[4][6] a personal synthesis of French Impressionism and Soviet music.[7]

Movements

Overview

The piano sonata represented an opportunity for Dutilleux to experiment with an ambitious, large-scale project, something that his previous commissioned works did not permit. In his own words:

I wanted to move gradually towards working in larger forms, and not to be satisfied with short pieces – to get away, if you like, from a way of writing that was ‘typically French’.[8]

The piece combines two concerns typical of Dutilleux's mature works: formal rigour and harmonic research.[2] Its themes are ambiguous, never completely modal nor tonal.[9]

The opening Allegro con moto starts in 2/2 but often changes meter. It is bithematic and classical in structure, with an ample first theme while the second one derives from the former.[1][6] From the very first bars, it displays F-sharp Major-minor ambiguity. Tritones are also featured prominently, as well as extremes of register which give the piece a symphonic character.[9]

The Lied is the shortest movement. In ternary A-B-A form, it is also sparser and more pensive than the other two.[6] Its basic tonality is D-flat Major although some degree of modal-tonal ambiguity is again noticeable. It begins in 4/8 with some meter changes later on.[9]

The last movement starts with an imposing Choral in 3/2 that suggests a four-voice polyphony. It is characterized by carillon-like sonorities that are created by the overlapping of low and high sustained notes.[9] It is followed by 4 variations (Vivace - Un poco più vivo - Calmo - Prestissimo). Variation II features an early example of "fan-shaped phrases", a device Dutilleux would use frequently in his later works.[9] The movement concludes with a varied recapitulation of the Choral. The variations are thus structured in a mini-sonata form, creating a "sonata within a sonata".[1][6] Throughout the movement, several passages have a toccata-like character.[6][9]

The work has been described as "a brilliant, multi-layered piece with echoes of Bartók and Prokofiev"[5] as well as a "sonata that Debussy might have written... sensuous and classical".[4]

Selected discography

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 IRCAM fact sheet & program notes
  2. 1 2 3 Fantapié, Henri-Claude (2014), Henri Dutilleux Edition, [6-CD Set], (Deutsche Grammophon), liner notes.
  3. ↑ Prestoclassical.co.uk CD review, "... the Dutilleux Sonata is one of the best piano works from the 20th century...".
  4. 1 2 3 4 Arkivmusic.com, Gary Higginson CD review
  5. 1 2 Musicweb-international.com, Tony Haywood CD review
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Whitehouse, Richard, Henri Dutilleux - Complete Solo Piano Music, Naxos Records, liner notes.
  7. ↑ Levin, Robert, Henri Dutilleux: D’ombre et de silence, ECM Records, liner notes.
  8. ↑ Henri Dutilleux; Claude Glayman (2003). Henri Dutilleux: Music—mystery and Memory : Conversations with Claude Glayman. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. p. 29. ISBN 978-0-7546-0899-8.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 The Solo Piano Works Of Henri Dutilleux: A Stylistics Analysis, Rosemarie Suniga, University of South Carolina, 2011.
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