This outstanding album recorded by the Orchestre national des Pays de la Loire presents some of the works of composer Henri Dutilleux, which were composed before 1954. Several of these works are recorded for the first time on this album. Featured works on this recording include the complete score of Dutilleux’s ballet Le Loup, and Trois Tableaux symphoniques, which was originally written as incidental music for a stage production of Wuthering Heights. Conducting the Ochestre National des Pays de la Loire is Pascal Rophe, and baritone Vincent Le Texier is featured on the pieces Trois Sonnets and Quatre Melodies.

Reviews:

This music might play it safe harmonically but Dutilleux splashes orchestral timbres around with the abandon of an action painter, as blood-curdling swoops from an ondes martenot add local colour. Pascal Rophé and his Orchestra National des Pays de la Loire take these scores at face value, carving through notes with flamboyant cliffhanger urgency.

– Gramophone

Dutilleux shows his attraction towards Alban Berg's orchestral colors, and the playing throughout the disc is superb, using a vast range of dynamics.

– BBC Music Magazine