Murail, Dufourt, Grisey: BBC Symphony Orchestra, Barbican Centre, London

Extract

‘Why shouldn't we be allowed to write symphonic poems?’ Tristan Murail asked the audience gathered at the BBC's Maida Vale Studios for his interview with Jonathan Cross. Murail, now 67, was visiting the UK for the first time in many years, here for the world premiere of his new orchestral work Reflections, which took place on 2 November 2013 in a robust performance by the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sakari Oramo. Reflections parts one and two evoke certain aspects of early modernist music, and, most of all, the music of Debussy, a composer Murail has come to cite more and more frequently. This diptych premiered by the BBC SO comprises the first two parts, said Murail, of a projected cycle for orchestra of several relatively brief pieces, each of which reflects on a certain image, memory or object of personal significance to the composer.