Roussel: Serenade Op. 30

Albert Roussel (1869-1937) a vingt-cinq ans, en 1894, lorsqu’il renonce à une carrière toute tracée d’officier de marine (il a navigué jusqu’en Cochinchine et aux Indes) pour entamer de sérieuses études musicales : il s’installe à Paris, prend des leçons auprès d’Eugène Gigout, puis devient l’élève de Vincent d’Indy à la Schola Cantorum. La maîtrise du contrepoint qu’il y acquiert (puis enseigne) n’assèche en rien une inspiration aussi personnelle que colorée. Joyau de son oeuvre pour orchestre, la Suite en fa (1926) est emblématique d’une écriture vigoureuse : Paul Paray élance les lignes anguleuses du Prélude comme personne (et quels cuivres !), rend à la Gigue ses sonorités de kermesse, équilibre souplesse et ferveur dans la Sarabande.

Much of the richly diverse oeuvre of Albert Roussel (1869-1937) grew from his far-flung travels as a young navy officer. One of the major French composers of his time, he produced music that embraces the exotic colours of so-called Impressionism, the rigour of his training at Vincent d’Indy’s Schola Cantorum, and the questing spirit of Modernism. Containing a number of CD premieres, this wide-ranging edition features such performers as Jean Martinon, Charles Munch and Claire Croiza – all colleagues of the composer, who makes appearances as both conductor and pianist – André Cluytens, Michel Plasson and José van Dam.

Susan Hoeppner, Judy Loman and Friends bring us an exquisite collection of late romantic chamber music by French composers Jolivet, Debussy, Roussel, and Ravel. Each work features the rich flute sounds of Susan Hoeppner and Judy Loman's mastery on harp, but in a variety of instrumental groupings from Debussy's trio to Ravel's Introduction and Allegro for septet.

For a very long time, the “flûte française” has fascinated both audience and performers. That is not surprising considering that this term covers both areas of instrumental music and of composition. When at the end of the 19th century Paul Taffanel established himself as the founder of the “school of modern flute”, the virtuo- so and composer reached the end of his era. The future belonged to new, extraordinary performers and a completely new music. France was able to offer both.

Written between 1902 and 1937, these are stylistically diverse works of Albert Roussel, ranging from the Romantic to the Impressionist to the neo-classical. Roussel is always melodically attractive, formally inventive, technically brilliant, and harmonically appealing. In these consistently strong and persuasive performance by a variety of mostly Dutch musicians, Roussel's rarely heard chamber works sound as fine as is imaginable.

The Montreal Chamber Players, all members of the Orchestre symphonique de Montreal who are also avid chamber-music players join Jennifer Swartz, principal harp with the OSM and a prolific soloist, for this recording of French works from the post-Romantic and Impressionistic periods. They play works written by Ravel in his youth, and by Debussy at the peak of his career. They also play masterpieces by three less known but equally indispensable composers: an ode to the sea beside which he grew up by Ropartz, strongly influenced by the Breton folk tradition; one of the very last works that Koechlin completed, amply demonstrating his unerring instinct as an orchestrator; and Roussel's Sérénade, a musical snapshot of Paris in the Roaring Twenties, full of vivid impressions and effervescent poetry.