As a performer, Dyens was known for improvisation. Sometimes he opened his concerts with an improvised piece, and he might improvise the program itself, without planning or announcing beforehand what he would be playing. He said that a journalist once told him he had the hands of a classical musician but the mind of a jazz musician. He played Bach suites and he played with jazz musicians at the Arvika Festival in Sweden. A heavy metal band did a version of the third movement of his Libra Sonatine.[2][4]
Tango en Skaï (1985), is one of his best-known pieces, but also widely played is the more extended Libra Sonatine (1986) written in three movements: "India", "Largo", "Fuoco", composed after Dyens had heart surgery.
"Its three movements are an explicit portrayal of that very particular period of my life: first the chaotic India (before the operation), then the Largo (during it) and finally the Fuoco, in which the unrestrained rhythms depict a veritable incarnation of my return to life (and several guitarists often play this last movement as an independent piece)" quotes Dyens.[2] "Skaï" is a French slang term for imitation leather and here refers to the gauchos (cowboys) of Argentina and southern Brazil who are known for their leather outfits.
