...and new music by a 91-year-old

If last night's New York premiere of Le Temps l'Horloge (Time and the Clock) by Henri Dutilleux (b. 1916) seemed an ideal match for Renée Fleming's vocal colors, it's because he wrote it for her.  Dutilleux combines shimmering, sometimes unexpected sonorities (e.g., the sudden bloom of an accordion) with three poems: two by Jean Tardieu and the last by Robert Desnos.  James Levine and the Boston Symphony Orchestra sounded ravishing, and since the work is scarcely nine minutes long, I wish they had done the entire thing again.  It was the highlight of the night, made even more moving by the composer in attendance, who ambled up to the stage to receive cheers from the audience.