Dutilleux: Le Loup & Other Works Sinfonia of London & John Wilson

• Henri Dutilleux (1916 - 2013): Le Loup:
• 1 Dutilleux: Le Loup: Tableau 1, La baraque foraine - Les mystifications 09:05
• 2 Dutilleux: Le Loup: Tableau 2, La chambre nuptiale - La Belle et la Bête 11:41
• 3 Dutilleux: Le Loup: Tableau 3, La forêt d’hiver - Danse d’amour - Danse de mort 07:25
• Henri Dutilleux:
• 4 Dutilleux: Flute Sonatine (Orch. K. Hesketh) 09:23
• Oboe Sonata (Orch. K. Hesketh):
• 5 Dutilleux: Oboe Sonata (Orch. K. Hesketh): I. Grave 03:12
• 6 Dutilleux: Oboe Sonata (Orch. K. Hesketh): II. Scherzo 03:47
• 7 Dutilleux: Oboe Sonata (Orch. K. Hesketh): III. Finale 04:10
• Sarabande et cortège (Orch. K. Hesketh):
• 8 Dutilleux: Sarabande et cortège (Orch. K. Hesketh): I. Sarabande 02:59
• 9 Dutilleux: Sarabande et cortège (Orch. K. Hesketh): II. Cortège 04:12
• Total Runtime 55:54

Info for Dutilleux: Le Loup & Other Works

Following the success of their previous album, English Music for Strings, John Wilson and his Sinfonia of London turn their attention to the music of Henri Dutilleux. His ballet Le Loup was composed as a commission for Roland Petit’s dance company and premièred in Paris in March 1953. Rarely recorded – this is the first recording by a non-French orchestra – the work unfolds in three tableaux and tells a convoluted tale of a bridegroom who jilts his bride (to run away with a gypsy) by persuading her that he has been changed into a wolf. Over time she discovers that the wolf is real, but her feelings turn from terror to love and when the alarmed villagers hunt the wolf, she defends him and dies at his side.

The album is completed by three world-première recordings of new orchestrations (by Kenneth Hesketh) of wind solos written for the Paris Conservatoire in the 1940s. Both the Sarabande et Cortège and Sonate pour hautbois are virtuosic tours de force for their soloists, as is the Sonatine pour flûte, which displays the lyricism, agility, and sparkling incisive qualities of the flute in what became Dutilleux’s most-performed work.

"Wilson and Sinfonia of London give a polished, warm performance [of Le Loup], as they do of Hesketh’s deft arrangements of three “pieces de concours” from the 1940s, all more than mere vehicles of virtuosity." (Sunday Times)

Adam Walker, flute
Juliana Koch, oboe
Jonathan Davies, bassoon
Sinfonia of London
John Wilson, conductor

The Sinfonia of London
is the name of two distinct session orchestras based in London, England. The original ensemble of this name was founded in 1955 by Gordon Walker, an eminent flautist of his time, specifically for the recording of film music. The orchestra appeared on the musical credits of many British and American films of the 1950s and 60s.

Among the original ensemble’s most celebrated commercial classical recordings is its 1963 recordings with Sir John Barbirolli conducting the Serenade for Strings of Edward Elgar and the Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis of Ralph Vaughan Williams for EMI Classics and the 1958 soundtrack album from the Alfred Hitchcock thriller Vertigo with Bernard Herrmann’s score conducted by Muir Mathieson (Mercury Records). The label World Record Club released an Lp (WRC T 11) of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony and the Egmont Overture with Hans Swarowsky conducting the ensemble. The original orchestra ceased to perform during the 1960s.

In 1982 the title Sinfonia of London was bought by Peter Willison and Howard Blake from the Walker family for the purpose of having a named orchestra for the first recording of The Snowman. In February 1998, Bruce Broughton was named the orchestra’s second musical director after Blake. Under Peter Willison’s management, the orchestra went on to record many soundtracks for major Hollywood films, including Batman, The Mummy Returns, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Lost in Space, The Lawnmower Man, Stargate, Tombstone, RoboCop and Young Sherlock Holmes.

John Wilson
is in demand at the highest level across the globe, working with some of the finest orchestras and opera houses. In the UK, he performs regularly at festivals such as Aldeburgh, Glyndebourne and the BBC Proms with orchestras such as London Symphony, London Philharmonic, BBC Scottish Symphony and City of Birmingham Symphony. Elsewhere, he has conducted the Royal Concertgebouw, Budapest Festival, Swedish Radio Symphony, Oslo Philharmonic and Sydney Symphony orchestras amongst others. In the 2019/20 season, Wilson makes his debut with the Bavarian Radio Symphony, Danish National Symphony, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic and Basel Symphony orchestras and his return engagements include DSO Berlin, BBC Philharmonic and Philharmonia Orchestra

Wilson made his opera debut in 2016 conducting Madama Butterfly at Glyndebourne Festival Opera on their autumn tour and has since conducted Porgy and Bess at English National Opera and returned to Glyndebourne Summer Festival to conduct Massent Cendrillon. He will be making his debut at the Metropolitan Opera, New York City, in a future season.

Wilson has a large and varied discography which includes a series of discs with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra exploring the works of Richard Rodney Bennett, with the BBC Philharmonic devoted to the symphonic works of Aaron Copland and numerous recordings with the John Wilson Orchestra. In 2019 Chandos released Wilson’s first recording with the Sinfonia of London which features Korngold’s Symphony in F Sharp.

Born in Gateshead, Wilson studied composition and conducting at the Royal College of Music, where in 2011 he was made a Fellow. In 1994, he formed his own orchestra, the John Wilson Orchestra, dedicated to performing music from the golden age of Hollywood and Broadway, and with whom he has appeared regularly across the UK. In March 2019, John Wilson was awarded the prestigious ISM Distinguished Musician Award for his services to music.

Booklet for Dutilleux: Le Loup & Other Works