Charles Chaynes

The name is pronounced somewhat like "shen," and this important French composer was born in Toulouse in 1925. He was a student of Darius Milhaud and Jean Rivier at the Paris Conservatoire prior to winning the Premiere Grand Prix de Rome in 1951. A resident of Rome from 1952 until 1955, Chaynes composed his First Concerto for String Orchestra and the critically-acclaimed Ode for a Tragic Death during this period. His list of compositions is considerable: Several concerti: for trumpet, for violin, for piano, for organ, as well as two for orchestra; a symphony, music for wind quintet, violin and piano sonatas. His Quest for Sacredness for solo organ (1985) is currently available on a Gallo CD, and two vocal works including his Lights from Japanese Poetry are on a CD from REM. The Concerto for Organ, String Orchestra, Kettledrums and Percussion was composed in 1966 and dedicated to the great organist Marie-Claire Alain. It is an example of the composer's wholly atonal technique in service of music inspired by religio-mystical sources, in this case The Spiritual Canticle of Holy John of the Cross, a set of poems which Chaynes read during a trip through Castile. It is structured in traditional three-movement form, and makes dramatic use of the tone colorations possible with the combination of organ and orchestra; effects created by elements of the text are notable, too, such as the musical version of the beating of a heart at the end of the second movement. The Piano Concerto also dates from 1966, and was first performed in that year by Yvonne Loriod, the famous pianist and wife of Olivier Messiaen. It makes use of a small orchestra of two flutes, trumpet, harp, kettledrums, percussion and strings. Also wholly atonal and in three-movement form, it retains a wide range of musical freedom in each of the movements. These two works were originally recorded by Erato and released later in America by Musical Heritage Society.
© Philip Krumm /TiVo