Chausson

Ernest Chausson died when his bicycle crashed into a wall. Among the various projects he left behind were some orchestral overtures, a violin sonata, a second symphony and this string quartet. He had finished the first two movements of the quartet and was nearly at the end of the third when the accident happened. D’Indy completed the third movement and it is for this reason it seems appropriate to couple the two works on this recording.

The first chamber music album 'Ravel & Chausson' by Claire Huangci as part of the Trio Machiavelli has been released today. The combination of Maurice Ravel's Piano Trio and Ernest Chausson's Piano Quartet marks an encounter between two works of opposite character.

César Franck - Symphony in D minor & Ernest Chausson Symphony in B-flat, Op.20
Orchestre de la Suisse Romande - Marek Janowski
EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 282 MB | Full Artwork | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: Pentatone # PTC 5186 078 | Country/Year: Netherlands 2006
Genre: Classical | Style: Romantic

…While the better-known Franck symphony receives top billing on this album, Ernest Chausson's Symphony in B flat is a shining example of a student surpassing his teacher. Chausson's handling of the orchestra seems much more deft and natural. While elements of Franck's teaching are quite clear, so too are the influences of Wagner and Debussy. The sweeping melodies and lush accompaniments are again handled with the utmost attention to detail by Janowski and the OSR.

César Franck - Symphony in D minor & Ernest Chausson Symphony in B-flat, Op.20
Orchestre de la Suisse Romande - Marek Janowski
SACD ISO (2.0/MCH): 3,38 GB | 24B/88,2kHz Stereo FLAC: 1,09 GB | Full Artwork | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: Pentatone # PTC 5186 078| Country/Year: Netherlands 2006
Genre: Classical | Style: Romantic

…While the better-known Franck symphony receives top billing on this album, Ernest Chausson's Symphony in B flat is a shining example of a student surpassing his teacher. Chausson's handling of the orchestra seems much more deft and natural. While elements of Franck's teaching are quite clear, so too are the influences of Wagner and Debussy. The sweeping melodies and lush accompaniments are again handled with the utmost attention to detail by Janowski and the OSR.

Petersen Quartett - Ravel / Milhaud / Lekeu / Chausson
SACD ISO (2.0/MCH): 4,04 GB | 24B/88,2kHz Stereo FLAC: 1,11 GB | Full Artwork
Label/Cat#: Capriccio # 71 002 | Country/Year: Germany 2003 | 5% Recovery Info
Genre: Classical | Style: Quartet, Romantic, Early 20th Century

"While the Petersen Quartet has recorded all sorts of repertoire since it signed with Capriccio in the middle '90s, this disc of French quartets from the fin de siècle is still something of a departure. Because while Beethoven and Schubert and Shostakovich all require the same sort of earnest commitment and intense attitude, Milhaud, Lekeu, Chausson, and Ravel are an entirely different bouillabaisse. (…) Capriccio's super audio sound is as clean and detailed as its conventional sound, but even deeper and warmer." ~allmusicguide

Petersen Quartett - Ravel / Milhaud / Lekeu / Chausson
EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 360 MB | Full Artwork: 72 MB | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: Capriccio # 71 002 | Country/Year: Germany 2003
Genre: Classical | Style: Quartet, Romantic, Early 20th Century

"While the Petersen Quartet has recorded all sorts of repertoire since it signed with Capriccio in the middle '90s, this disc of French quartets from the fin de siècle is still something of a departure. Because while Beethoven and Schubert and Shostakovich all require the same sort of earnest commitment and intense attitude, Milhaud, Lekeu, Chausson, and Ravel are an entirely different bouillabaisse. (…) Capriccio's super audio sound is as clean and detailed as its conventional sound, but even deeper and warmer." ~allmusicguide

César Franck’s only symphony came at a time when the French music world was seeking to rival the great Austro-German tradition. The ‘darkness-to-light’ narrative of the Symphony in D minor owes a debt to Beethoven and there is a unique power within its distinctive themes, innovative cyclic form and general gravitas. Franck’s student Ernest Chausson was no doubt inspired by his teacher’s thematic metamorphoses, but the anguished influence of Wagner is also ever present. The published score of the Symphony in B flat major includes many errors which conductor Jean-Luc Tingaud has meticulously corrected after careful study of Chausson’s autograph manuscripts.

Ernest Chausson is a most unusual figure in French music, positioned at the crossroads where the romanticism of Berlioz and Franck meet the language of Wagner and the symbolism of the young Debussy. His Poème de l amour et de la mer is a unique score for the period and certainly his greatest work; simultaneously a profane, naturistic cantata, a monologue, and a song cycle, it was composed between 1882 and 1892.