Henri Dutilleux - Ainsi la nuit: String Quartet (1976)

Quatuor à cordes, "Ainsi la nuit" (1976)

I. Nocturne - Parenthèse I
II. Miroir d'espace - Parenthèse II
III. Litanies - Parenthèse III
IV. Litanies II - Parenthèse IV
V. Constellations
VI. Nocturne II
VII. Temps suspendu

A work for string quartet by the contemporary French composer Henri Dutilleux (born 1916), who turns 95 later this month (on the 22nd of January). "Ainsi la nuit" ("Thus the night") is one of only a handful chamber works by Dutilleux, although he has expressed his intention to compose a second string quartet in the future. "Ainsi la nuit" was commissioned by the Koussevitzky Foundation to be performed by the Juilliard Quartet. The compositional process took nearly five years, during which Dutilleux thoroughly familiarized himself with string instruments and studied scores of works such as Anton Webern's "Six Bagatelles" and Alban Berg's "Lyric Suite". The Quatuor Parrénin actually premiered the work in 1977, but the Juilliard Quartet eventually performed it at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., the following year.

In this recording, "Ainsi la nuit" is performed by the Belcea Quartet.