Music Register

Jean Françaix: a quintessentially French composer following in the tradition of Saint-Saëns, Poulenc and Satie; composer of some one-hundred-and-fifty works; and virtuoso pianist in his own right. The four works on this recording were composed between 1942 (the Divertissement—very much a 'distraction' during the Nazi Occupation of France) and 1977 (the Clarinet Quintet). All four share a high degree of compositional mastery, but this is always embedded within an air of grace, of profound charm, and of wit. It is perhaps this sense of humour which has so endeared Françaix's music to generations of musicians and music-lovers. But despite the facts that L'heure du berger was composed in honour of a Parisian restaurant who were to use it as 'background' music, that Françaix self-deprecatingly passed off A huit as a 'stop-gap to fill a programme' for the Vienna Octet, and that the Divertissement contains unashamedly blatant musical jokes, these compositions are unmistakably the work of an expert, a distinctively 'Gallic' artist.

The Mysteries of Musical Time, Pitch, Timbre, and Dynamics unveiled

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The Mysteries of Musical Time, Pitch, Timbre, and Dynamics unveiled

It is a sad fact that the reputation and fame of many composers, built up over a lifetime, evaporates on their death bed. Si mes vers avaient des ailes, a short song written when the composer was just thirteen, is the work on which Hahn’s posthumous fame had, until relatively recently, relied, and is included here in the composer's own transcription for cello and piano. Recording catalogues now reveal an ever-growing list of works—concertos, symphonic offerings, songs, piano pieces and chamber music—by this most urbane and charming composer. The C major Violin Sonata of 1926 assuredly leads us into the world of Fauré fifty years earlier, its easy lyricism and textural transparency bearing a kinship with the elder French musician’s A major Sonata. This melodic suppleness is continued in Soliloque et Forlane, now with viola and piano demonstrating Hahn’s skill in turning out a jaunty tune. The Nocturne and the Romance, both for violin and piano, reveal further an ability to combine passionate intensity with a sense of refined melodic and harmonic delicacy. The Piano Quartet of 1946 adopts a more muscular and impassioned character. Melodic charm and restfulness in the Andante are interrupted by the central passage which sails into troubled and expressive waters and the finale rolls gracefully to its compelling conclusion. This charming recording is the perfect showcase for Room-Music, a consortium of internationally acclaimed musicians who wish to perform and explore chamber music in a more flexible and innovative form.