Hugues Dufourt ~ Apollon et les continents ~ Witten, 23rd April, 2016

From this year's Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik, this is one of the more impressive pieces, inspired by the enormous fresco of 'Apollo and the Continents' in Würzburg by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo.

The first two pieces - Africa and Asia - show Dufourt's spectral background, and could be described as music for large spaces, or installations. The last two - Europe and America - are much more energetic and remind me at times of the large group pieces by Braxton - hence the post here. The recording from WDR3 is fine, although the announcer did decide to talk over the first few seconds of 'America'.

Hugues Dufourt 
Apollon et les continents, d'après Tiepolo für Ensemble
World premiere of the cycle

L’Afrique d’après Tiepolo (2004)
L’Asie d’après Tiepolo (2009)
L’Europe d’après Tiepolo(2011)
L’Amérique d’après Tiepolo (2016)

Jean-Pierre Couleau - piano
ensemble recherche 
Recorded at the Blote Vogel Schule, Witten; 23rd April 2016