PHILIPPE HUREL (b.1955): Ritornello in Memoriam Luciano Berio for Flute and Piano (Anne-Cécile Cuniot [flute], Jean-Marie Cottet [piano]), Loops II for Vibraphone (Jean Geoffroy), Loops III for 2 Flutes (Juliette Hurel, Sophie Dardeau), Tombeau in Memoriam Gérard Grisey for Percussion and Piano (Geoffroy, Cottet), Loops I for Flute (Hurel).

Catalogue Number: 02J119
Label: Nocturne
Reference: S214
Format: CD
Price: $17.98
Description: The repetition and transformation of small cells of musical material - hence 'Loops' - is a central feature of Hurel's music. Typically this leads to playful, jubilant pieces full of rhythmic energy; although the music is highly structured the impression is of motion, not static patterning (though the intricate patterns built up are certainly a salient feature of these compositions). Some extended playing techniques for the flute and vibraphone are introduced, adding to the virtuosic impression given by the music. The same techniques are applied to the two in memoriam pieces, which avoid direct reference to their dedicatees' music. In both, but especially the tense and uneasy Tombeau for Grisey, the 'looping' technique gives rise to a certain obsessive quality. Nonetheless, even in these evidently deeply felt memorials to two of the most significant figures in 20th-century music, the energy and dynamism of Hurel's own personal idiom is constantly apparent.