DESCRIPTION:
Matthew Ross, Flute
Kseniia Polstiankina, Piano

Henri Dutilleux (1916-2013)
Sonatine for Flute and Piano (1943)
I. Allegretto
II. Andante
III. Animé

March 1, 2016
Robert J. Werner Recital Hall
University of Cincinnati

Henri Dutilleux is mostly known for his dark, esoteric orchestral works. However, flutists know his Sonatine for flute and piano as one of the great Paris Conservatory test pieces of the 20th century, but Dutilleux notoriously did not share our admiration for his composition. In an interview with author Claude Glayman in 1977, he had this to say regarding the Sonatine: “I had written… some pieces commissioned by Claude Delvincourt, then the director of the Conservatorie. He had a double aim: to make young composers explore instrumental technique and, at the same time, to force instrumental students to work on new scores, which Delvincourt wanted to be full of traps and technical difficulties. The flute piece is the Sonatine for flute and piano, which has been recorded many times abroad, although I have never wanted it to be recorded in France because it doesn’t yet sound really like my music. But I haven’t put any embargo on that.” Regardless of Dutilleux’s retrospective feelings, the Sonatine has entered the canon of great compositions for the flute. The modally-colored yet mostly tonal harmonic language may not reach the maturity of his later works, but the virtuosic technical demands and sweeping melodies have legitimized the piece as part of the standard repertoire.