Marc Coppey - Dutilleux: Tout Un Monde Lointain, Trois Strophes / Caplet: Epiphanie (2008)

A near-imperceptible rubbing noise of light percussion, a rising cello phrase that coils round itself then comes back, a quivering of strings: Tout un monde lointain appears in a dawn gradually getting lighter. Here we are in the inimitable atmosphere typical of Henri Dutilleux’s orchestra; his music seems woven from the air of dreams; it tames and magnifies the mystery of sounds; it participates in the world of ritual and incantation; it k n ows how to listen to silence but also becomes animated with powerful scansions; it gives voice to fleeting thoughts of the subconscious; svelte and light as an elf, it can disappear with the same impalpable grace that marked its appearance… We dream of these Asian landscapes where a few brushstrokes suggest vast spaces with extremely modest means.