Duchable

For two consecutive years listeners to Classic FM have voted Max Bruch’s First Violin Concerto their favourite among 300 classical works. His melodies have instant appeal and it is good to see three comparative rarities on this disc. Bruch loved alto-register instruments such as the clarinet and viola, and he wrote these works in 1911 when giant leaps were taking place in the development of music, all of which he eschewed in favour of mid-19th-century Romanticism. While the clarinet rides orchestral accompaniment with no difficulty, the viola sits right in the middle and can be drowned (a hazard in performing the Double Concerto but avoided in the recording studio). The viola Romance is a gem, while the Eight Pieces are colourful and varied. All the performers do ample justice to this beautiful and unashamedly Romantic music.

Polonaise: almost always, as soon as the word is uttered, it conjures up the name of Frédéric Chopin. And what could be more natural with a creative genius who was constantly attracted to the genre? His first work, published in Warsaw, was entitled `Polonaise for pianoforte dedicated to her Excellency the Countess Victoire Skarbek by Friderik Chopin, aged eight years'; and right up to the concluding Polonaise-Fantaisie, Op.61, fourteen other similar compositions had punctuated the all-too-brief career of the Polish maestro.

François-René Duchâble is a French pianist. He studied at the Conservatoire de Paris, and at the age of 13 won the institution's first prize in piano. Three years later, he placed 11th at the Queen Elisabeth Music Competition in Brussels, and in 1973 he won the Prix de la Fondation Sacha Schneider. At that time, Duchâble caught the attention of Arthur Rubinstein, who encouraged him to pursue a solo career and helped him secure his first important engagements. Since then, Duchâble has had a successful concert career in Europe, the United States, Canada, and Japan.

Accompagné par l'orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse, le pianiste français renouvelle l'approche de ces deux concertos. Bon nombre d'interprètes en avaient en effet donné une interprétation de plus en plus épaisse et romantique, ce qui est en contradiction avec l'écriture de ces oeuvres, davantage inspirées par la légèreté et le modernisme de "l'esprit français" des années 20-30. Le jazz, si présent dans le Concerto pour la main gauche, par exemple, est révélateur de la pensée de Ravel. Le piano de Duchâble est plus que brillant : il est incendiaire, volatile, merveilleusement aérien. La qualité de la tenue rythmique, le sens des contrastes, l'humour, si souvent présent chez Ravel, sont magnifiquement restitués.

Parmi l'oeuvre de Saint-Saëns, les concertos pour piano sont d'une importance indéniable. D'abord parce que leur composition accompagne Saint- Saëns entre 1848 et 1896, ensuite parce qu'ils sont symboliques d'un style fait de légèreté, d'intelligence et de finesse. Populaires, ces concertos le deviennent rapidement grâce à la clarté de leurs thèmes musicaux et à leur grande richesse harmonique. Le compositeur français n'oublie pas de truffer ses partitions de quelques notes d'humour que François-René Duchâble sait nous rappeler mieux que quiconque.

“Playing the viola means making it sing – making myself sing” declares Gérard Caussé, who makes this instrument, with its special voice – deep, nostalgic and melancholy – sing like no one else does. This box set, which brings together an incredibly wide repertoire, bears witness to the remarkable career that has made Caussé a viola legend. The French violist Gérard Caussé is a world renowned maestro of his instrument. Internationally acclaimed, he performs as soloist, chamber musician and with orchestra. A professor of the viola class at the Conservatoire de Paris, Caussé has helped to enrich the viola repertoire by inspiring contemporary composers: Henri Dutilleux, Wolfgang Rihm, Betsy Jolas… among others. 2018 marks Caussé’s 70th birthday. This box highlights the wide range of the viola repertoire he recorded from 1979 to 2010 surrounded by first class artists.

The pairing of Francis Poulenc and Reynaldo Hahn on this album may seem contrived merely because of biographical parallels between the two men, for their musical approaches and styles are quite different, if not at odds. Poulenc's neo-Classical, self-conscious parodies in the Sinfonietta and the dry, sarcastic wit of the Aubade are a world away from Hahn's pretty, even precious, Romanticism, which is unabashedly on display in La bal de Béatrice d'Este. However, the discerning listener may find in Poulenc streaks of Hahn's pensiveness and languor, which his comic antics never completely conceal; there is in Hahn a buoyant, diatonic tunefulness that is readily found in Poulenc. (Interestingly, some of Poulenc's adaptations of Renaissance music bear a remarkable similarity to Hahn's antique pastiches in this ballet.) Furthermore, their fondness for unusual chamber combinations is striking, and the transition from the Aubade to La bal de Béatrice d'Este is not at all jarring because they both share the charm and ambience of the salon orchestra.