Henri Dutilleux (1916-2013) had a long and productive life but worked in a slow, meticulous manner, which explains why this almost complete edition of his music only runs to six CDs. Missing is an immature ballet score Le Loup (The Wolf). Georges Prêtre recorded excerpts from it in the 1960s for EMI but evidently Universal was unable to license them, even though this set contains recordings from several diverse sources.

The bulk of Dutilleux’s oeuvre is represented here – from his early Symphony No 1 and Piano Sonata of 1947/48 to his final orchestral work The Shadows of Time and Le Temps l’Horloge, an orchestral song cycle completed in 2009 and dedicated to soprano Renée Fleming (who sings it here). Because of Dutilleux’s magnificent sonic imagination and perfectionist attitude, every piece in this set is significant.

The major large-scale works are his two symphonies – the Second (Le double), is more of a concerto grosso – and his concertos for violin and cello. The First Symphony (1951) emerges from the world of Roussel and Honegger, yet the composer’s fastidiousness is evident in the carefully balanced textures and succinct musical argument. (These traits would become even more pronounced.) Martinon conducts the Orchestra...