#Strophes sur le nom sacher series#

The second movement, marked Andante sostenuto, explores the rich low register of the cello, but for most of its duration only hints obliquely at the intervals making up the musical spelling of SacherвЂ™s name, which is revealed in six bold strokes just before the end.

(The celloвЂ™s normal range extends down only to low C, but for this work Dutilleux has the instrument tuned down to low B flat.) Near the end of this movement he introduces a short quotation in quivering 32nd-note double-stop tremolo from BartГіkвЂ™s Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta, yet another work commissioned by Sacher. He also likes to вЂanchorвЂ™ his musical gestures around stable recurring pitches, from which his gestures depart and to which they constantly return, as is the case in this movement with the augmented 5th B flat вЂ“ F# at the bottom of the celloвЂ™s pitch range.

#Strophes sur le nom sacher series#

First we hear E flat, then E flat-A, then E flat-A-C-B natural, and then finally the entire series of pitches making up the вЂmusical spellingвЂ™ of the name Sacher. In his works Dutilleux had a tendency not to introduce his thematic material in complete form right away but rather to slowly unveil it, as he does at the opening of the first movement of his Trois strophes. The spelled out musical motive to be used was therefore: E flat-A-C-B flat-E-D. In 1976 Russian cellist Mstislav Rostropovich set about to celebrate SacherвЂ™s 70th birthday by commissioning new works for solo cello from 12 of the Western worldвЂ™s leading composers: Conrad Beck,В Luciano Berio,В Pierre Boulez,В Benjamin Britten,В Wolfgang Fortner,В Alberto Ginastera,В CristГіbal Halffter,В Hans Werner Henze,В Heinz Holliger,В Klaus Huber,В Witold LutosЕ‚awski вЂ¦ and Henri Dutilleux.Д®ach piece was to use the dedicateeвЂ™s name spelled out вЂmusicallyвЂ™, i.e., with each letter representing a musical pitch вЂ“ Es being the German notation of E flat, H being B natural and R ( re in the language of solfГЁge) as D. These commissioned works include StravinskyвЂ™s Concerto in D for string orchestra, BartГіkвЂ™s Divertimento for Strings, and Richard StraussвЂ™ Metamorphosen for 23 solo strings. With a family fortune based on a controlling share of the Hoffman-LaRoche pharmaceutical empire, he commissioned works from some of the centuryвЂ™s greatest composers. Swiss conductor Paul Sacher (1906-1999), founder of the Basel Chamber Orchestra, was an immensely important figure in 20th-century music.