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Debussy: Complete Orchestral Work
Jun Märkl
Classical - Released January 30, 2012 | Naxos
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Grand Corps Malade
French Music - Released October 20, 2023 | Anouche Records
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Stravinsky: Petrushka; Debussy: Jeux, Prélude
Orchestre de Paris
Classical - Released March 8, 2024 | Decca Music Group Ltd.
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Conductor Klaus Mäkelä was already surrounded by heavy publicity, and his elevation to the music directorship of the Chicago Symphony has only intensified it. Curious listeners haven't had a lot of recordings to choose from; there is some Sibelius and a pair of early Stravinsky recordings with the Orchestre de Paris, of which this 2024 release is the second. Perhaps it was listener curiosity that propelled this recording onto classical best-seller lists in the spring of that year. What listeners get may not be what they expect from the charismatic young conductor; these are fairly low-key recordings of Stravinsky and Debussy. The good news is that concern over Mäkelä possibly being overextended with all his high-profile assignments (he is also set to take over the Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam) may be misplaced; the Orchestre de Paris plays as if Mäkelä had been on its podium for 30 years. In Stravinsky's Petrushka and especially in Debussy's subtle, rhythmically difficult ballet Jeux (1912), the orchestra is perfectly coordinated and sharp, and Mäkelä wisely chooses the slimmed-down 1947 version of Petrushka, which fits his style. On the other hand, this is definitely low-key Stravinsky, and listeners should sample to see whether it accords with their tastes. The sharp Russian dance rhythms are taken straightforwardly, and even the strictest prude would be hard-pressed to object to the level of eroticism in Debussy's Prelude à l'après-midi d'un faune. Yet again, however, the opening of that piece is magical, with the solo flute seeming to hang in the air. It is not clear how Mäkelä achieved this effect; seating placement may have had something to do with it, but one may be thankful that he did. One awaits further early 20th century music from this wunderkind, but at this point, it is already clear that his ability to control musicians twice or three times his age is not in question.© James Manheim /TiVo
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Saint-Saëns: Cello Concerto No. 1 - Franck, Fauré & Poulenc
Bruno Philippe
Chamber Music - Released November 10, 2023 | harmonia mundi
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Gramophone: Recording of the Month
Of the various young cellists contending for the crown these days, Bruno Philippe is among the strongest, with a highly varied palette of tone production. He applies the full power of the instrument sparingly, keeping a light touch in lyrical sections and making details clear even at the growling bottom of the instrument's range. The large pieces here are perhaps of varying quality, but they serve Philippe well. The Violin Sonata in A major of César Franck was transcribed for cello with the composer's approval, but it is a different work lower down, losing the soaring quality of the finale's melodies. Still, it fits Philippe's way with a tune nicely, and he applies a good deal of tempo rubato in a way that holds the interest. Philippe keeps the cello lines clear in Saint-Saëns Cello Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Op. 33 (the mix of cello-and-piano works with a cello concerto is entirely characteristic of what might have been offered in these composers' own era), featuring the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra. Francis Poulenc's Cello Sonata was sketched out by the composer in 1940, laid aside, and completed only reluctantly in 1948. The composer disparaged it, and no one would pick it as top-grade Poulenc, but for all that, it has a remarkable Cavatine slow movement that displays Philippe's lyrical gifts to the hilt. Serving as intermezzi among these works are short pieces by Fauré, and these, too, show Philippe as the possessor of a remarkable cantabile. Philippe is ably accompanied by the veteran pianist Tanguy de Williencourt; they make an effective pair, with the pianist's restrained style seeming to keep the young Philippe within bounds. Harmonia Mundi contributes idiomatic chamber music sound from the Hessische Rundfunk studios in Frankfurt on an album that will appeal to any lover of French chamber music.© James Manheim /TiVo
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Funeral Dance
Helge Lien Trio
Jazz - Released September 1, 2023 | Ozella
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David & Jonathas
Gaétan Jarry
Classical - Released June 9, 2023 | Château de Versailles Spectacles
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Après un rêve (Belle Époque: Nights at the Piano)
Emmanuel Despax
Classical - Released June 16, 2023 | Signum Records
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It is hard to figure out what pianist Emmanuel Despax had in mind for the concept of this album. Its various titles offer three ideas: Après un rêve comes from the title of a Fauré song Despax transcribes for his program opener, plus there is "Belle Époque: Nights at the Piano." None of these is of much use; few pieces other than the Fauré are particularly dreamy, and the largest piece, Poulenc's Soirées de Nazelles, is from the nervous 1930s and nowhere near the Belle Époque in time or mood. As for "Nights at the Piano," that fits the Poulenc nicely but not the concluding Gaspard de la Nuit of Ravel, which is an imposing virtuoso concert work carrying none of the connotations of "Nights at the Piano." Really, Despax excels in none of these three ways but rather in a fourth: he hits on an intriguing mix of familiar standards and unusual works. Among the latter group are the Soirées de Nazelles, which Poulenc disclaimed and, perhaps for that reason, have been seldom heard. They are delightful pieces that bear titles describing qualities, like the numbers of a Baroque French suite, but actually seem to have been devised by Poulenc to describe members of a group of his friends, like Elgar's Enigma Variations. The result is a work that distills the hint of improvisation that pervades some of Poulenc's keyboard music and songs, and Despax gives it the right lively, spontaneous feel. The Nocturne, Op. 165, of Cécile Chaminade and the keyboard version of Henri Duparc's Aux étoiles are also nice finds. As for the more heavily trodden works, Debussy's Clair de lune is pleasantly moody, although no one would select this album for the rote Gaspard de la Nuit or the rather un-macabre Danse Macabre, Op. 40, of Saint-Saëns. For Poulenc lovers, however, this is an important find.
© James Manheim /TiVo
Les Autres c’est nous
Bigflo & Oli
Hip-Hop/Rap - Released June 24, 2022 | Universal Music Division Label Panthéon
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Fauré: The music for Cello and Piano
Xavier Phillips
Chamber Music - Released October 20, 2023 | La Dolce Volta
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The 100th anniversary of Gabriel Fauré's death in 1924 has brought various worthwhile releases, some of them delving into lesser-known repertory that is most welcome. Fauré mastered the art of handling the solo cello arguably better than any other composer, writing its lines into dense counterpoint that blooms unexpectedly into melody, and two top chamber musicians do his complete cello works justice here. The program is compelling, with the two cello sonatas, thorny and dense, framing shorter works that are limpid but not simple. The Elegy in C minor, Op. 24, is heard often enough, but some of the others, like the Sicilienne, Op. 78, or the flitting Papillon, Op. 77, are delightful finds. The performers are equal to the considerable technical demands of the cello sonatas, even the incredibly gnarly first movement of the Cello Sonata No. 2 in G minor, Op. 117, and they draw nice contrasts with the just slightly more relaxed slow movements. The sound from the Salle de L'esplanade at the Metz Arsenal is another draw on an unusually satisfying chamber music release.© James Manheim /TiVo
Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain (Bande originale du film)
Yann Tiersen
Film Soundtracks - Released April 23, 2001 | UGC Images - ADA France
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Fabuleux Destin d'Amelie Poulen (known to Western audiences simply as "Amelie") was a magic realist romantic comedy by French auteur Jean Pierre-Jeunet which introduced French composer Yann Tiersen to listeners worldwide. Tiersen's whimsical, deceptively simple instrumental music was equally influenced by composers like Chopin and Satie, as well as contemporaries such as Michael Nyman and Philip Glass, and emerged as an enjoyable blend of European classical music and French folk. Playing a variety of instruments from piano and violin to accordion and xylophone, Tiersen composed a number of delicate, charming pieces which suited the somewhat magical mood of the film very well and deservedly made him a star in his own right.© Sergey Mesenov /TiVo
Fabuleux Destin d'Amelie Poulen (known to Western audiences simply as "Amelie") was a magic realist romantic comedy by French auteur Jean Pierre-Jeunet which introduced French composer Yann Tiersen to listeners worldwide. Tiersen's whimsical, deceptively simple instrumental music was equally influenced by composers like Chopin and Satie, as well as contemporaries such as Michael Nyman and Philip Glass, and emerged as an enjoyable blend of European classical music and French folk. Playing a variety of instruments from piano and violin to accordion and xylophone, Tiersen composed a number of delicate, charming pieces which suited the somewhat magical mood of the film very well and deservedly made him a star in his own right.© Sergey Mesenov /TiVo
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Alma
Yaron Herman
Contemporary Jazz - Released July 7, 2023 | naïve
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Yaron Herman is never where you expect him to be. He’s recently made a remarkable return to the traditional acoustic trio format (Songs of Degrees in 2019) and rediscovered the joys of interplay through two albums (Everyday, Y) through which the pianist made a conscious effort to open up to other musical aesthetics. However, this new record presents him in the studio, alone at the piano with no safety net, no preparation and no predefined concept. He resolutely plunges into his music sixteen years after his first solo album (Variations, 2006), exploring an array of styles that his listeners won’t be accustomed to hearing him play. In this minimalistic context, Yaron Herman surprises with this deliberately understated music. It’s characterised by a certain gentleness, unfolding its ever-changing and nuanced moods according to his frequently renewing inspiration. Intuitively passing from spontaneous, free improvisations to the more standard (and here, masterfully deconstructed) ‘All the Things You Are’; from pieces borrowed from Israeli popular music (‘Yesh Li Sikuy’ by Eviatar Banar) to a very moving reading of Gabriel Fauré’s ‘Après un rêve’, Yaron Herman offers up a brand of impressionist music that is overtly melancholic but always lyrical, projecting an inexhaustible melodic imagination. © Stéphane Ollivier/Qobuz
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Biches bleues
Florian Pellissier Quintet
Jazz - Released October 13, 2014 | Heavenly Sweetness
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Liszt: Années de pèlerinage
Nicholas Angelich
Solo Piano - Released May 11, 2004 | Mirare
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Debussy: Jeux, Nocturnes, Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune
Les Siècles
Symphonic Music - Released November 30, 2018 | harmonia mundi
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The originality of this recording (which presents works that are, in fact, rather common) comes from the orchestra Les Siècles playing on periodic instruments, in this case from the period in which Debussy wrote these masterpieces. This is particularly relevant for woodwinds and brass, whose mechanisms and sounds around 1900 were very different - more incisive perhaps, and undoubtedly more differentiated - which for music like Debussy's offers a real plus in the orchestral balance. Moreover, the number of strings remains reasonable, this way the woodwind is never swallowed up as it often is with large international orchestras. The listener will be able to hear this music as Debussy heard it, or at least how he would have liked to have heard it because in his time orchestras and conductors did not always have a clear understanding of his style or the infinite colours on his palette. © SM/Qobuz
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Boulanger, Fauré, Hahn
William Youn
Classical - Released December 15, 2023 | Sony Classical - Sony Music
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Franz Liszt : Années de pélerinage (Intégrale)
Bertrand Chamayou
Classical - Released October 24, 2011 | naïve
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Stephane Deneve conducts Debussy
Stéphane Denève
Symphonies - Released May 1, 2012 | Chandos
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Stéphane Denève has established himself as a versatile maestro with a highly varied repertoire, from concert fare to operas, but his recordings have revealed him to be a specialist in French orchestral music, notably in his coverage of works by Albert Roussel and Guillaume Connesson. This double hybrid SACD from Chandos offers Denève's interpretations of the orchestral works of Claude Debussy, and the lavishly detailed and expressive performances by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra show a conductor and an orchestra in complete sympathy with the music. Because the presentation by Chandos is first-rate from an audiophile perspective, with spectacular reproduction and close-up, credible presence, the listener is immersed in Debussy's dazzling colors from the opening of Images, and surrounded by fully dimensional sonorities throughout the album, which includes such other masterpieces of impressionist music as Jeux, Nocturnes, La Mer, Printemps, and Prélude à l'après-midi d'une faune. When the clarity of the notes, the richness of the timbres, and the depth of the orchestra's sound are appreciated altogether, it's truly a seductive experience, and Debussy's lush and atmospheric music achieves its potential in this impressive package. Indeed, it's difficult to pull away from these gorgeous performances, so prepare to listen to both SACDs in one long, leisurely sitting. It's that good.© TiVo
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Louis Beydts: Mélodies & Songs
Cyrille Dubois
Mélodies - Released March 15, 2024 | Aparté
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The aged Fauré and Reynaldo Hahn took the French Romantic mélodie into the 20th century, and Louis Beydts, who studied with Hahn, took it even further; three of the song cycles here date from after World War II. Beydts was mostly known as a composer of film music, and the songs on this release by tenor Cyrille Dubois and pianist Tristan Raës are all but unknown; three of the cycles receive their world premieres here. The music may seem to evoke a vanished world, but it is often engaging. Beydts distills the Fauré style down to essences, and most of the songs are quite short. The texts are by a variety of French poets of the day, and physical album buyers will get good translations in the hefty booklet. The Cinq Humoresques are sharp little character studies, and in many of the songs, there is a measure of wit (sample "Mademoiselle Rose"). The songs often take the conversational tone of Fauré's songs and dial it down several notches. Dubois has a nicely controlled tone in very quiet material (which describes many of the songs), letting the vibrato drain from his voice but not going flat. Hear "Adonis" for a good example of his comfort with the musical language. The Chansons pour les oiseaux are delightful and could easily be programmed with other works about animals. These are subtle little pieces, but they are immensely appealing, and it is no surprise that the album made classical best-seller charts in the spring of 2024.© James Manheim /TiVo
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