Milhaud

Mentored by Erik Satie and Jean Cocteau between 1917 to 1923, the celebrated French compositional group known as Les Six comprised Georges Auric, Louis Durey, Arthur Honegger, Darius Milhaud, Francis Poulenc and Germaine Taillefaire. The artful relationship between Les Six and their mentors formed an important cornerstone of the inter-war avant garde.

Charles Owen and Katya Apekisheva perform a stunning selection of French 20th-century music for piano four hands. Both Milhaud and Poulenc were members of Les Six, a band of composers who specialised in producing colourful, quirky and highly original scores. Milhaud’s Scaramouche epitomises the wit and joie de vivre of this approach and has become one of his most popular works – although at the time the composer nearly forbade its publication. Poulenc combined grace and sparkling humour with a nobility that reflected his desire for a ‘return to simplicity’. His Élégie was written ‘as if improvising with a cigar in your mouth and a glass of cognac on the table’, while the Sonata for Four Hands is full of finger-crossing intricacies, and at the heart of the Sonata for Two Pianos is an Andantino described by the composer as ‘a lyrical, profound outburst… It is piano without pretence, real piano where each instrument converses with the other in perfect understanding and without interrupting.’ Debussy’s evocative Nocturnes arranged by Ravel conclude the release.

Milhaud's Symphony No. 5 was written on commission from Italian Radio (RAI), and was first performed by the RAI Orchestra of Turin under the composer's direction.The two previous symphonies had expressed public sentiments. (They were respectively, a symphony to celebrate the victory of World War II and to commemorate the French Revolution of 1848.) The mood of this symphony, though, is cool and objective Alexander Fried of the San Francisco Examiner noted its "refreshing, almost sardonic crackle." The slow movement is the most memorable part of the symphony. For the most part, the symphony is composed on short motives rather than on broad melodies. Symphony No. 6 was written at ………

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

Among the most adaptive and flexible – some might say eclectic and facile – of composers, Darius Milhaud was well-equipped to provide stage and ballet music that could set any scene and change moods at a moment's notice. His vivid scores, however, are most often heard today in concert, and without scenarios in hand, some imagination is required to understand how effective these works may have been for the stage. Taken at face value, Le carnaval d'Aix seems like an episodic piano concerto, L'apothéose de Molière a mediocre neo-Baroque pastiche, and Le carnaval de Londres a modern music hall rehash of John Gay's The Beggar's Opera.

The cycle of Milhaud symphonies with the Basel Symphony Orchestra under Alun Francis doesn't seem to have received critical attention worthy of its importance. It is true that Milhaud, being extremely prolific, had a certain tendency at times to revert to mere note-spinning, and the music is not "easy" in the sense of, say, his `Le Boeuf sur le Toit', being often polytonal, densely polyphonic and at times almost overly busy. But they are almost always surprisingly engaging, and more variegated than you might expect. It took Milhaud five years from the ……..

G.D. @ Amazon.com