Paul Le Flem(1881-1984): "the greatest Breton composer"?

[Dundonnell]

The Tournemire thread has led me to begin one on Le Flem.

In his booklet notes for the Marco Polo cd containing Le Flem's late Symphony No.4 the French author makes the claim that the composer was "the greatest Breton composer. This seems at the least contentious considering the alternative claims of Joseph Guy-Ropartz. I am not, in fact, going to compare the two except to note that there must be something in the air of Brittany since Guy-Ropartz lived to be 91 and Le Flem died four months after his 103rd birthday

To be honest I don't know how good a composer Le Flem actually was since the only substantial works of his I know come from the opposite ends of his long life. The Timpani cd containing the Symphony no.1 of 1908 and the Fantasie for Piano and orchestra of 1911 demonstrate a composer certainly well-schooled in the music of composers like Franck and d'Indy but more than capable of standing favourable comparison with his contemporaries. The symphony in particular is a grand and rather imposing piece, rather Baxian in many ways.

The Marco Polo disc includes the Symphony No.4 of 1972, a relatively short work-in a less than entirely satisfactory performance. This symphony shows a considerable development of style(not surprising really considering it was written 66 years after his First ).

It would be interesting to hear more Le Flem, including the Second and Third Symphonies and, hopefully, Timpani will get round to a complete set.

There were a number of very impressive French symphonists in the 20th century and with revived interest in composers like d'Indy, Ropartz, Tournemire, Koechlin, Maurice Emmanuel, not to mention more advanced people like Jolivet, Sauguet and Landowski, Le Flem may yet get more attention.

[snyprrr]

I have raved about his Piano Quintet, on that Thread. It has a very dreamy, Impressionistic-Late Romantic, all encompassing passion that is wholly winning. The introduction to the first movement has all the moonlit, mysterious qualities of Koechlin, without the latter's penchant for a little bombast (sorry guys!) There are two recordings... does anyone have the Timpani? (haven't heard it)

[Mandryka]

Lovely violin sonata. Easy to listen to and to like. Radient music.

[Roasted Swan]

Lovely violin sonata. Easy to listen to and to like. Radient music.

Just last week I picked up this disc



I'm prompted to do a 1st listen today!

[pjme]

A cd from 2016  https://grandpianorecords.com/Album/AlbumDetails/GP695

Symphonies 2 and 3 are on YT - in older radio broadcast recordings.

Anyway, an interesting figure , with a long and fascinating life, between Pelléas et Mélisande and Répons de Boulez...

https://brahms.ircam.fr/fr/paul-le-flem (French only)

[vandermolen]

Just last week I picked up this disc



I'm prompted to do a 1st listen today!

I enjoyed the Le Flem 4th Symphony.

[calyptorhynchus]

I certainly appreciate these threads, where a composer previously unknown to me is bought up. I have been listing to M le Flem's works on Youtube and really like his later works (principally the symphonies 2-4). They are nice and compact with a quirky feel to them (once or twice I was reminded of Havergal Brian), and good energy. However the Youtube recordings of the symphonies of 2 & 3 are very poor quality and we definitely need a modern recording of those two works.