Cecile Chaminade - Piano Music Vol 3, Peter Jacobs
Cecile Chaminade - Piano Music Vol 3, Peter Jacobs
Genre: Classical | FLAC | 1 CD | Covers | 266 Mb | Hyperion | Rs.com
Genre: Classical | FLAC | 1 CD | Covers | 266 Mb | Hyperion | Rs.com
1. Prelude in D minor No 3 of Preludes Op 84 [4’56]
2. Rigaudon No 6 of Pieces romantiques Op 55 [3’00]
3. Les sylvains Op 60 [4’03]
4. Valse-ballet (‘Sixieme valse’) Op 112 [3’03]
5. Inquietude No 3 of Pieces humoristiques Op 87 [2’14]
6. Arabesque Op 61 [4’28]
7. Troisième valse brilliante [5’16]
Sonata in C minor Op 21 [18’51]
8. Allegro appassionato [6’40]
9. Andante [9’11]
10. Allegro [2’47]
11. Idylle No 1 of Album des enfants Op 126 [1’26]
12. Gavotte No 5 of Album des enfants Op 123 [1’04]
13. Rondeau No 4 of Album des enfants Op 123 [0’51]
14. Orientale No 9 of Album des enfants Op 123 [1’17]
15. Aubade No 2 of Album des enfants Op 126 [1’20]
16. Patrouille No 9 of Album des enfants Op 126 [1’39]
17. Villanelle No 10 of Album des enfants Op 126 [2’00]
18. Tarantelle No 10 of Album des enfants Op 123 [1’14]
19. Le passe No 3 of Poemes provençales Op 127 [4’28]
20. Serenade espagnole Op 150 [2’36]
21. Quatrieme valse Op 91 [4’48]
22. Cortege (‘Fragment’) Op 143 [4’10]
The swings of fortune are going the way of Cecile Chaminade at the moment. For so long seemingly remembered as no more than a salon composer, she has more recently had her flute Concertino recorded by James Galway on RCA, and now enjoys the second CD compilation of piano pieces within a matter of months.
At first playing, I wondered whether the rediscovery was altogether worthwhile; but by the second playing the melodic grace and charm of the music, reminiscent as much as anything of Faure, had convinced me that it was indeed so. Chaminade's most popular composition, Automne, has a main theme that will be familiar to most people, and those who know and love the piece will surely be as readily enraptured by its Op. 35 companion, the breathless Scherzo in C major. I liked as much as anything the Romance in D major, Op. 137, one of her later pieces (though she lived on for another 30-odd years). Scarcely less enjoyable are the two contrasting waltzes—the elegant Valse romantique, Op. 115, and the swirling Deuxieme valse, Op. 77. But then, most of the pieces here have the sort of appeal that, after a few hearings, they seem like old friends in whose company one can enjoy welcome relaxation.
Of course, the appeal of the collection owes a great deal to the utterly committed, technically assured and beautifully relaxed playing of Peter Jacobs, capturing all the lyrical grace of the music and providing appropriately delicate rubato. Hyperion provide him with a suitably clear and intimate recording.
Andrew Lamb (Gramophone)