Adieu, Henri Dutilleux (1916-2013) - who was my favourite living composer, an artist with all the sensibility of the great French tradition to which he'd been heir, but the originality to move that soundworld to new territories that were all his own. I never met him, despite wishing to do so very much. Here is his obituary from his publisher, Schott.
http://www.schott-music.com/news/archive/show,8929.html
A poem from Baudelaire's Fleurs du mal, on another of which Dutilleux's cello concerto Tout un monde lointain (extract above) is based - perhaps an appropriate farewell...
La Fin de la JournéeSous une lumière blafarde
Court, danse et se tord sans raison
La Vie, impudente et crarde.
Aussi, sitôt qu'à l'horizonLa nuit voluptueuse monte,
Apaisant tout, même la faim,
Effaçant tout, même la honte,
Le Poëte se dit: "Enfin!Mon esprit, comme me vertèbres,
Invoque ardemment le repos;
Le coeur plein de songes funèbres,Je vais me coucher sur le dos
Et me rouler dans vos rideaux,
O rafraîchissantes ténèbres!"
