The death of Henri Dutilleux on 22 May 2013 robbed the musical world of one of its most distinctive voices. Dutilleux was renowned for his exquisite craftsmanship and feel for instrumental colour, as well as for an extraordinary generosity of spirit that was invariably reflected in his music. Indeed, pianist Akanè Makita describes Dutilleux as a 'generous, sensitive man' who, when the artists involved in this recording wrote to him to tell him about the project, replied to say how 'greatly touched' and 'moved' he was. This warm and unexpected response from such an eminent composer inspired the musicians to put their all into the recording; the fact that it was completed on the day of Dutilleux's death makes it all the more fitting a tribute to him.

The chamber works featured on this disc demonstrate Dutilleux's superb command of instrumental timbre – as flautist Andrea Oliva says, 'Dutilleux is brilliant at custom-designing the music to suit the specific characteristics of each instrument'. These are highly demanding pieces that exploit the possibilities of the instruments to the full – all can be considered milestones in the repertoire of their respective instruments. Yet the technical difficulties of the works are never gratuitous; Dutilleux draws on his profound understanding of the instruments to create deeply expressive, colourful and evocative music.

Award-winning pianist Akanè Makita is joined on this recording by principal soloists of the legendary Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia.