Résonances

Instrumentation

Collections

Musical Terms (2)

• resonance French
  Resonance — both a physical acoustic phenomenon and a central aesthetic principle of Dutilleux's music. He was fascinated by the way sound continues after its initial attack, how overtones persist and transform, and how one sonority can shadow or anticipate another. This preoccupation named both his solo piano work Résonances (1965) and the two-piano set Figures de résonances (1970–76). The Piano Sonata's third movement creates bell-like resonances through overlapping sustained notes at extreme registers.
  Resonance in Dutilleux demands attention to the sustaining pedal not as a blurring device but as a precision tool for carrying specific harmonics forward. Practise with half-pedal changes rather than full lifts wherever Dutilleux notates sustained resonances. The sound that lingers is compositional material, not an accident.
• Conservatoire examination piece English
  A piece written specifically for use as a sight-reading or set piece at the examinations (concours) of the Paris Conservatoire, typically commissioned from established French composers. Dutilleux composed many such pieces during his career — notably the Sonatine for Flute (1943), Sarabande et cortège for Bassoon (1942), Choral, cadence et fugato for Trombone (1950), and the Oboe Sonata (1947). These pieces were disowned by Dutilleux as his 'official' output but they have all entered the standard repertoire of their respective instruments and remain widely studied and performed today.
  The Conservatoire examination pieces have a specific character: they are typically demanding enough to test advanced students while being clear in their formal articulation. The Sonatine for Flute in particular should be approached as a fully serious French sonata in miniature, not as a student exercise. Dutilleux's craftsmanship is evident even in these 'disowned' works.