Henri Dutilleux

Henri Dutilleux worked slowly and revised endlessly, and as a result his whole catalog fits on a shelf. Born in Angers, France, in 1916, he trained at the Paris Conservatoire, spent nearly two decades running music production at French Radio, and composed at his own deliberate pace until his death in 2013 at 97. He disowned most of his early pieces, keeping only what met his standard.

What survived that standard is music of extraordinary refinement: shimmering orchestral color, mystery, and craftsmanship audible in every bar. He kept his distance from the doctrinaire camps of postwar music, following his own ear instead, and major performers came to him, including the cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, for whom he wrote a concerto inspired by the poetry of Baudelaire.

Start with Métaboles, a five-part showpiece for orchestra, then Tout un monde lointain, the Rostropovich cello concerto, whose title means "a whole distant world."