Henri Dutilleux (1916–2013) was a fastidiously self-critical composer who produced only about a dozen major works (around forty in total), though he suppressed many others. Untouched by the more innovative, newsworthy 20th-century trends, he followed his own creative instinct. Tout un monde lointain… for cello and orchestra dates from 1967–70. When the conductor/composer Igor Markevitch introduced Dutilleux to Rostropovich in 1961, the cellist asked him to write a new work. Dutilleux had been re-reading Baudelaire, having received a commission for a ballet based on his Les Fleurs du mal. When he decided to withdraw from this project, he re-channelled the Baudelaire-inspired musical ideas into the new cello piece. Although Baudelaire quotations head each movement, these were added only after the music’s completion, as reflections of mood. The influence of Bartók’s favoured arch form is suggested by Dutilleux’s similar 5-movement structure.

Énigme opens with delicate percussion, the cello entering almost immediately with a cadenza-like passage. A rapid, angular, quasi-scherzo section marked Vif is characterised by rather pointilliste orchestral writing. The last part of the movement (Très vif then Prestissimo) is almost entirely pianissimo. In the hypnotic Regard (Extrêmement calme) Dutilleux exploits the cello’s upper register. This would seem to ideally suit Rostropovich, whose eloquence in that sphere changed the general perception of cello-writing, but Dutilleux, not having heard him perform "all that often”, played down this supposed connection. Houles (Large et ample) is the central scherzo, intense and rhapsodic, evoking the sudden swells (houles) and typically volatile nature of the sea. Marked Lent et extatique, Miroirs again exploits the soloist’s high register, with violins superimposing mirror images, though the timbres of brass, percussion and harp predominate. In the final Hymne (Allegro) Dutilleux synthesizes material from preceding movements. The rarified sound-world of Tout un monde lointain… is characteristic of Dutilleux’s orchestral music in general, his treatment of the large percussion section being a model of subtlety. The work has become one of the most frequently performed of late-20th-century cello compositions.

Olivier Messiaen (1908–92) composed his Quatuor pour la fin du temps (Quartet for the End of Time) in July 1940, while he was a prisoner-of-war at Görlitz in Silesia. The quartet’s scoring was dictated by the fortuitous presence of violinist Jean Le Boulaire, cellist Étienne Pasquier and clarinettist Henri Akoka among his fellow inmates. Its premiere was given on 15th January 1941 to an audience of several hundred prisoners. The fifth of the eight movements is Louange à L’Éternité de Jésus (Praise to the Eternity of Jesus), of which Messiaen wrote: "Jesus is here considered as one with the Word. A long phrase, infinitely slow, from the cello … Majestically the melody unfolds at a distance both intimate and awesome … In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

In 1915 Claude Debussy (1862–1918) planned a series of six sonatas for different instrumental combinations. Seriously ill with cancer, he lived to complete only the violin and cello sonatas and the sonata for flute, viola and harp. The Cello Sonata is a work of wide expressive range, with frequent changes of mood and tempo. Debussy remarked: "The proportions are almost classical…”, but there is no conventional development. The "Sostenuto e molto risoluto” opening gives way to cello arabesques, a sad cello melody leads to a more animated passage, but the movement ends peacefully. Debussy initially considered the sub-title "Pierrot Angry with the Moon” for the strangely frustrated Sérénade. This restless and rather disgruntled movement has indications as diverse as "fantasque et léger” (whimsical and light), "ironique” and "fuoco” (fiery). The initial guitar-style pizzicato is replaced by arco for the faster but sustained middle section. The lively finale has a Spanish flavour, but again there are mercurial mood-changes – fire, passion and tenderness. A declamatory cello solo is dismissed by the brusque final bars.

Maurice Ravel (1875–1937) originally composed his Vocalise-étude en forme de habanera for bass voice and piano in 1907. His contribution to a collection of vocalises compiled by the singing teacher A. L. Hettich, this is one of three Spanish pieces (the others were the opera L’Heure espagnole and Rapsodie espagnole) which he wrote that year and is believed to have been an off-shoot of the opera. The typically languid character of the habanera is emphasised by Ravel’s marking "Avec indolence”. The version of this seductive showpiece recorded here – one of many available arrangements for different instruments – is by the French cellist Paul Bazelaire (1886–1958).

Defeat in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71 severely damaged French national pride. As part of the restoration of cultural credibility, Saint-Saëns (1835–1921) played a major role in the revival of traditional forms – symphony, concerto, quartet and sonata. Two of his ten concertos are for cello, the first dating from 1872 and composed for the French cellist Auguste Tolbecque. Structured in one continuous movement (but three distinct sections), the concerto is beautifully integrated, concise and abundantly melodic. Saint-Saëns’s Classical restraint and clarity are to be expected, but the elements of drama and passion are more striking, while the problem of balance between cello and orchestra is effortlessly overcome. The first section comprises exposition and development, with fragments of the opening theme’s triplet figuration exploited in the latter section. The central part is a lightly scored, charming Allegretto in the style of a minuet. When this finally recedes, the opening of the concerto is recalled to begin the final section – a modified and extended recapitulation, with two completely new, lyrical melodies as well as some brilliant passagework for the cello. An exhilarating coda in A major, including a further new melody, concludes what is one of Saint-Saëns’s most completely successful works. 

© 2017 Philip Borg-Wheeler