Henri Dutilleux at Summit of French Music

Though little known here, Henri Dutilleux has become one of the most highly regarded of composers--paradoxically on a relatively slender catalogue. At 73 (an age he reaches Sunday) he occupies a position with Olivier Messiaen and Pierre Boulez at the summit of current French music.

“Dutilleux is the best living French composer, and probably the most important,” says Andre Previn, who will conduct the Los Angeles premiere of Dutilleux’s 30-year-old Second Symphony tonight at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. The Los Angeles Philharmonic subscription program, which repeats Saturday and Sunday, also includes “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” by Dukas and the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto, with monomial teen phenom Midori.

The composer was at the rehearsal Thursday and will attend the premiere. Monday morning, however, he was still at home in Paris, where he answered the telephone and soon apologized for what he considers faulty English. The only fault turned out to be an unclear phone connection.

“Diversity within unity” is one musicologist’s characterization of Dutilleux’s complex but accessible music. Asked if such an aesthetic is his goal, the composer answers, “I hope so.”

“It is not only inspiration which gives us our style,” Dutilleux says. “In addition to being artists, we are also artisans. It takes a long time to find our way.”

Like the Second Symphony, which was written on a commission from the Boston Symphony-- through its then music director, Charles Munch--a number of other Dutilleux works have been “commissions from America,” the composer points out, and of which he says he is proud.

“But I cannot accept every commission. Life is more difficult than that--especially when we begin to become known. It is not always easy to find time for concentration.”

Subtitled “Le Double,” the Second Symphony is scored for a divided orchestra, with a 12-player ensemble to be grouped around the podium. According to Previn, it is a hard work for the orchestra, with much solo writing.

“The Second Symphony is one of the tremendous landmarks of his compositional craft. It’s very difficult for them (the orchestra),” Previn says, “but possible. All I can hope is that we please him.”

Dutilleux’s total number of works, as listed in the New Grove (1980), would seem to be on the short side of two dozen. Does he regret not being more prolific?

“Surely I regret it. It’s a problem of temperament. Some write a lot--for example, Milhaud. Others write less. Oddly enough, when I do not have a deadline, I can write quite quickly. There are very many temptations on a composer’s time.” Still, temperament rules.

“I am slow. That is the situation. My organization can be a problem. On the other hand, I consider that, between the Second Symphony of 1959 and the next one, ‘Metabole’ (in 1964) I have changed my style completely. Completely. And, after that, before the next large orchestral piece, I changed again.”

Does he mind being called or considered a musical conservative?

“No, not at all. But I am really a conservative-progressive, since my evolution has been very progressive. Let us say I work in a conservative environment. After all, I teach at the Conservatoire, yes?”

The present trip, which Dutilleux is making without his wife, will be his first visit to Los Angeles.

“This will be the first time. But, last April, I was in San Francisco, for the San Francisco premiere of my violin concerto, ‘L’Arbre des Songes,’ played by Isaac Stern (and conducted by Gunther Herbig).”