The French Music Exploration thread

Started by Papy Oli, September 14, 2020, 03:17:20 AM

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Papy Oli

You might want to try "Suite for English Horn, Op. 185 - I. Mélopée pour s'évader du réel" on the Hanssler chamber box.

Really fitting title. My mind just completely drifted away in the last 10 minutes.
Olivier

Papy Oli

Explored further into the Koechlin Chamber music box set yesterday.

CD1 - works for clarinet, loved it, with the exception of the selection of the Monodies (exists as a single release)
CD2 - works for flute - pleasant overall but not something I would have a need to go back to.
CD3 - Loved the Bassoon sonata and Oboe Sonata as per day before, also the English Horn sonata. Yet to listen to Portrait of Daisy Hamilton.

Sadly, it seems CD3 is not from a single SWR/Hanssler release but mixed sources from back catalogue. CPO have a oboe specific (also Oehms) and bassoon specific releases. I'll investigate those further.

Back to the Orchestral works right now :

Vers la voûte étoilée, Op. 129 - enjoying this too very much, powerful, uplifting.
Next: Khamma (Debussy arr. C. Koechlin)
Olivier

pjme

Don't forget the early (opus 50) Ballade for piano solo (ca 1915)- piano - orchestra version ca 1919, a dark, romantic work.
A short text is printed in the score - possibly by Koechlin himself, or by Heinrich Heine...or inspired by Heine...

"De vieilles légendes
et d'anciennes petites chansons
chantent dans la forêt du souvenir:
Et voici qu'elles se mêlent
a la détresse du présent
en un grand cri vers la nuit...
La nuit pâle, d'où le calme descend
sur létang
à la clarté de la lune."

Ancient legends and old little songs, sing in the forest of memory:
And see how they interweave with  todays distress
in a mighty cry towards the night...
The pale night, from which stillness descends
on the pond
illuminated by the moon.

I know only of two recordings
piano solo by Jean Pierre Ferey (on Scarbo)
piano/orchestra: Bruno Rigutto and the Monte Carlo PhO/Alexandre Myrat. EMI

Papy Oli

Quote from: pjme on October 14, 2020, 04:19:47 AM
Don't forget the early (opus 50) Ballade for piano solo (ca 1915)- piano - orchestra version ca 1919, a dark, romantic work.
A short text is printed in the score - possibly by Koechlin himself, or by Heinrich Heine...or inspired by Heine...

"De vieilles légendes
et d'anciennes petites chansons
chantent dans la forêt du souvenir:
Et voici qu'elles se mêlent
a la détresse du présent
en un grand cri vers la nuit...
La nuit pâle, d'où le calme descend
sur létang
à la clarté de la lune."

Ancient legends and old little songs, sing in the forest of memory:
And see how they interweave with  todays distress
in a mighty cry towards the night...
The pale night, from which stillness descends
on the pond
illuminated by the moon.

I know only of two recordings
piano solo by Jean Pierre Ferey (on Scarbo)
piano/orchestra: Bruno Rigutto and the Monte Carlo PhO/Alexandre Myrat. EMI

thank you Peter. Found the Ferey recording on Qobuz. playing it now.



Khamma is another one for the "+" list by the way. One I will revisit again.

I copied the Koechlin opus list from wiki into Excel and I am now highlighting what I like and graying out the ones I don't. I am now just one small chronological step away from turning into Madiel  ;D

Olivier

Madiel

...aaaaaand my work here is done. Night.
I am now working on a discography of the works of Vagn Holmboe. Please visit and also contribute!

Iota

Quote from: Papy Oli on October 14, 2020, 04:52:31 AMKhamma is another one for the "+" list by the way. One I will revisit again.

I was listening to Khamma the other day and thought of this thread, as it has the unusual distinction of having three French composers involved in its realisation, Debussy, Koechlin and also Gabriel Pierne who conducted its first performance, which seems to make it particularly qualified for a mention on this thread somehow ..

While I'm here I'll mention if you don't already know it, the relatively well-known Les Heures Persanes, which has both piano and orchestral versions, both very well worth hearing I think. I find the orchestrated version particularly heady and dream-like (perhaps too 'atmospheric' for your tastes based on your comment in #298 ..?), with the piano version somewhat more transparent. Both mesmeric.

There's also Marines et Paysages, another piece that has two versions, both beautifully evocative imo, one for solo piano, the other for flute, violin and piano.

Following this thread with interest, and am most impressed by your stamina!  :)

Papy Oli

Quote from: Iota on October 14, 2020, 10:34:57 AM
I was listening to Khamma the other day and thought of this thread, as it has the unusual distinction of having three French composers involved in its realisation, Debussy, Koechlin and also Gabriel Pierne who conducted its first performance, which seems to make it particularly qualified for a mention on this thread somehow ..

While I'm here I'll mention if you don't already know it, the relatively well-known Les Heures Persanes, which has both piano and orchestral versions, both very well worth hearing I think. I find the orchestrated version particularly heady and dream-like (perhaps too 'atmospheric' for your tastes based on your comment in #298 ..?), with the piano version somewhat more transparent. Both mesmeric.

There's also Marines et Paysages, another piece that has two versions, both beautifully evocative imo, one for solo piano, the other for flute, violin and piano.

Following this thread with interest, and am most impressed by your stamina!  :)

I don't know what I was expecting when i started on Koechlin but I certainly wasn't expecting to be engrossed in such a way in his chamber music like I am right now. At the moment, Portrait of Daisy Hamilton and the 1st mvt of the Viola Sonata. Gorgeous stuff.

Thank you for your recs, Iota. "Heures Persanes" & "Marines and Paysages" are on the way somewhere in that boxset in their piano version. The former is also in the Orchestral box. I'll have to seek out the orchestral version of the latter somewhere else.

So far, the bulk of what I have "ruled out" has more to do with my own tastes (flute works, organ works, songs). I'll have to make a point of going back to the orchestral works i "dismissed" at the start (Jungle book extracts).

If the piano music works for me, I think that Chamber set will sit on the shelves after Christmas  ;D
 
Olivier

Papy Oli

Quote from: Madiel on October 14, 2020, 05:02:59 AM
...aaaaaand my work here is done. Night.

:laugh:

I daren't yet looking at the number of opuses for Ravel, Debussy and Fauré...  ???
Olivier

Madiel

Quote from: Papy Oli on October 15, 2020, 02:32:19 AM
:laugh:

I daren't yet looking at the number of opuses for Ravel, Debussy and Fauré...  ???

Ravel and Debussy didn't write much at all. Faure... well he had a long career but was not insanely prolific.
I am now working on a discography of the works of Vagn Holmboe. Please visit and also contribute!

Florestan

Since they will soon be burried, I took the liberty to copy-paste these posts from the WAYL2N thread.

Quote from: MusicTurner on October 16, 2020, 04:58:44 AM
Among the lesser known French piano music composers from that period, Samazeuilh, Ropartz or Schmitt are generally [...] interesting, IMHO.

Quote from: Florestan on October 16, 2020, 08:27:53 AM
Reynaldo Hahn as well. Vincent d'Indy has some nice piano music too. From an earlier generation, Gounod and Bizet.

Nohing profound and earth-shattering, of course --- just colorful, tuneful, sensuous and beautiful music.
Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini

Papy Oli

Olivier

Papy Oli

Finished with Koechlin this weekend. Covered quite a wide range of his works. His chamber music is what was eventually the most of interest to me (Clarinet, Bassoon, Oboe sonatas etc). I Struggled with the (very) slow building up (to nothing... ) of his orchestral works. Might revisit some of those again though in the future (Jungle book, Buisson ardent at least).

Koechlin, Charles (1867-1950) - La Course de Printemps Op.95, La Méditation de Purun Baghat, Op. 159, Les Bandar-log, Op. 176, "Scherzo des singes ", String quartets No.1 & 2, Piano music for 4 hands, piano quintet, string quartet No.3, choeurs and melodies, Oboe Sonata Op.58, Bassoon sonata Op. 71, Suite for English Horn, Op. 185, Clarinet Sonata No.1, op.85, Les Confidences d'un joueur de Clarinette Op.141, Clarinet Sonata No. 2, Op. 86, Flute chamber works, Vers la voûte étoilée, Op. 129,  Khamma (Debussy arr. C. Koechlin), Ballade Op.50, Preludes Op.209, Le Portrait de Daisy Hamilton, Op. 140, Viola Sonata, Op. 53, Cello Sonata, Op. 66, Paysages et marines, Op. 63, Nouvelles sonatines No. 3, Op. 87, Second album de Lilian, Op. 149, Au loin, Op. 2, No. 2,  Nouvelles sonatines No. 1, Op. 87, Premier album de Lilian, Op. 139, The Seven Stars' Symphony, Op. 132, Le Buisson Ardent, Les Heures Persanes

Olivier

Papy Oli

My first new composer this week is someone that is actually not on the list. I came across his name via a BBC documentary "The Forgotten History" focusing on the history of Black composers.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000n18w/black-classical-music-the-forgotten-history

One of the composers mentioned was Joseph Boulogne, Le Chevalier de Saint George (1745-1799)..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevalier_de_Saint-Georges

A contemporary of Mozart, who he met in a trip to London, he got the nickname of the "Black Mozart". However, according to the documentary, Mozart did actually pinch some of Boulogne's earlier musical ideas when they met in London. That makes it worth a listen if anything.

Queuing those :

 
 

Started with the quatuors. Very lively and entertaining. Hits the spot.
Olivier

Madiel

I basically know him for the association with Haydn's "Paris" symphonies.

Will have a listen to whatever I can find...
I am now working on a discography of the works of Vagn Holmboe. Please visit and also contribute!

Mandryka

Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Madiel

I listened to some of the Saint-Georges I could find on Primephonic, but there really wasn't much. Mostly violin concertos.  And a sonata for flute and harp. The Arion label that Papy Oli showed several albums from didn't seem to be available on that particular streaming service. The "Le Mozart Noir" album was there, and some Naxos recordings too.

Reasonably pleasing but it didn't generally grab my attention while I was working. I think the performances were a little variable too to be honest.
I am now working on a discography of the works of Vagn Holmboe. Please visit and also contribute!

pjme


Madiel

Well Papy Oli has disappeared from the site for the last week.
I am now working on a discography of the works of Vagn Holmboe. Please visit and also contribute!

Papy Oli

So...Where were we ?  :-[  :)

My apologies for this hiatus.  0:)

I do not have Qobuz for the time being, so what is on my shelf and what I find on YT will have to do for now.

Decided to go on the quiet side this morning by digging up some Satie. I really love the the Gymnopédies and the Gnossiennes (particularly the sloooow versions by De Leeuw) but I never spent proper time with much else of his or not clicked with it.

Time to correct this and explore the rest of the De Leeuw twofer again.

Playing the 3 Sarabandes now.

Olivier

Pohjolas Daughter

Olivier, you might be interested in checking out these articles/page about Ravel's Piano Concerto for Left Hand and Wittgenstein.  I thought of you when I stumbled across the articles.  In particular, I quite enjoyed watching and learning more about the piano concerto watching an analysis by Stephen Johnson complete with samples by the BBC orchestra and (I am embarrassed to admit that I forgot the pianist's name)....?  I had started a thread the other day on Paul Wittgenstein.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3WX6QVVc7wtQRCCKJzNHPJ0/paul-wittgenstein-the-one-armed-piano-maestro-of-ww1

Best wishes,

PD
Pohjolas Daughter