French Music

[lechner1110]

  shamokin88, Many many thanks for upload Migot's Symphonie  "Hagoromo".
  Maybe , subtitle of this work "Hagoromo" mean "Kimono" . (The traditional garment worn in Japan)
  Anyway, very interesting work.  Thanks again

[mikben]

Hardly an unsung composer, but I have a recording from Dutch Radio of Debussy's Nocturne for Violin and Orchestra which received its premiere last November in Amsterdam. It has been reconstructed by Robert Orledge and is performed by Isabelle Faust and the Dutch Radio Kamer Filharmonie conducted by Heinz Holliger. Anyone interested?

[TerraEpon]

I certainly am.

[mikben]

Will try and upload the Debussy tomorrow.

[Lionel Harrsion]

Hardly an unsung composer, but I have a recording from Dutch Radio of Debussy's Nocturne for Violin and Orchestra which received its premiere last November in Amsterdam. It has been reconstructed by Robert Orledge and is performed by Isabelle Faust and the Dutch Radio Kamer Filharmonie conducted by Heinz Holliger. Anyone interested?

Thanks for the upload of this delicious piece!  Are there any Debussy scholars among us who can throw some light on it?  So far as I can ascertain, Debussy intended to write three 'Nocturnes' for violin and orchestra for Eugène Ysaÿe -- he worked on them in the summer of 1894 but the project stalled when the two men fell out for some reason.  What was the extent of the of Orledge's reconstruction, I wonder.

[mikben]

With the help of google translate I can make a rough translation of the programme notes which are in Dutch. They are quite long so would like to check that it's ok to post them here. If not, I can upload them as a word document an anyone interested can download them. It will take me a little bit of time to do the translation and correct google's english!

[Peter1953]

If you send me the programme notes by email, I will be happy to translate them.

[mikben]

Hope this isn't too long to post here.
Sincere thanks to Peter1953 for translating this from the Dutch programme notes!!

Nocturne – A World Première

The Belgian violinist Eugène Ysaÿe (1858-1931), who became famous because of his impressive mixture of virtuosity and poetry in his performances, was a great admirer of the music by the young Debussy. That is why he arranged in December 1893 the Parisian première of his only String Quartet and also had the intention to give the first concert performance of Pelléas et Mélisande in Brussels in 1896.
In September 1892 Debussy planned a tour through America, with financial support of Prince André Poniatowski, and he had the idea to play the "almost finalized three Scènes au crépuscule", three "scenes at twilight", inspired by poems from a friend, the symbolist poet Henri de Régnier. In his own words, in 1893 these pieces underwent "a major revision", however, only a few sketches for violin and orchestra are preserved, most of them in E major or B major.
Thanks to Ernest Chausson we know that Debussy composed a piece for Ysaÿe in April of that year, which was at a certain moment called a "concerto", and which piece was probably also meant for his first tour through America in 1894-1895.
A few weeks before his departure in November, just before adding the finishing touches to L'Après-midi d'un faune, Debussy told Ysaÿe that he was working on "three Nocturnes for violin solo and orchestra, which are tailor-made for you". These Nocturnes are most likely derived from the earlier Scènes au crépuscule. The first scène was meant "only for strings, the second for three flutes, four horns, three trumpets and two harps; in the third all instruments are combined".
The plan seems to be a fore-runner of the six Chamber Sonatas from the years 1915-1917. Perhaps Debussy had the Nocturnes by Whistler in mind, when he told Ysaÿe that his scènes "will be like paintings, a study in grey". In November 1896 he dropped his plans, after Ysaÿe told him that "because of financial reasons" he did not see any opportunity to première these pieces in Brussels.
However, at an auction in Paris in 2006 a score of an opening for violin and orchestra in E major turned up. Since this material did not show up in the orchestral Nocturnes of 1897-1899, I (Robert Orledge) put four harmonized themes (in length ranging from three to thirteen measures) next to each other in one single, representative Nocturne and kept this as much as possible close to the ensemble of Debussy's third Nocturne. At least then these themes would not remain in libraries or a private collection gathering dust.
The result is a piece of eight minutes, with a poetical introduction referring to the main movement to which it is linked. The dynamic opening found in 2006 with which the real Nocturne opens is the starting point of several subsequent episodes. Besides, it is a natural introduction to the "shadow theme" in B major, which starts with a single cello and double bass. Above hovers in the solo violin the thrilling motive of the three tunes from the beginning, exactly as Debussy meant. The themes are not developed further, instead they are presented in varying harmonic contexts, just like Debussy's L'Après-midi d'un faune from the same period.
The Nocturne looks much like a rondo with several episodes, built around an extensive musical scale theme, where different aspects of Debussy's "shadow themes" are placed in a new perspective. As during the course of the piece there is extensive reference  to the extrovert fireworks of the 2006 theme, it is sparingly dealt with later on, though it is used for the basis of a brief, I hope exciting coda.
I am very grateful to the violinist Otfrid Nies for his advice regarding the practical aspects of the challenging solo part.

[Lionel Harrsion]

Many thanks to Peter and mikben for troubling to provide that information.  I am no expert on Debussy but the end result of this exercise in reconstructive surgery sounds pretty convincing to me!  I'd be keen to know what other members think.

[TerraEpon]

So having listened to that Debussy piece, I'm intrigued. It seems to be unrelated to "Nocturne et Scherzo", which is what I figured this was. Where does the musical material come from?

[jerfilm]

Thanks, Amphissa, for putting up the Guilmant first organ symphony.  It has been my favorite work for organ and orchestra for just about forever and i am glad to hear yet another performance of it. 

It seems to me this is a piece that is difficult to record (and perhaps to pull off, even - can't really say much about that as I've never heard a live performance).  Unfortunately,  most "suitable" venues are large cathedrals or concert halls with a very "live" ambience where the organ sounds rattle around the chamber for a second or more.  Add that to fast tempos as in the Finale and you wind up losing most of the stunning accompaniment that the orchestra provides.  And then it begins to just sound like the original organ sonata that Guilmant rescored to create the symphony.  And while the sonata is a nice organ piece in it's own right, I rather prefer the blast of the full orchestra......

Ah well (sigh.....)

Jerry

[lechner1110]

  I just uploaded Symphonies by Bondeville and Bozza now.

  I got this rare recordings from my good friend Miklos. He is also member of this forum.
  He was willing to agree to upload these wonderful recordings.   I sincerely appreciate his kindness!


  About music, Bozza's symphony is very interesting work.  The opening of this symphony is parody of very famous symphonic poem by Richard Strauss.   Bondeville's work is also fine French symphony, in my opinion.

[jowcol]

I have uploaded Sept Mouvements Incantatoires by Ginette Keller


She is in the 1953 photo below, standing next to conductor Tony Aubin, who is at the piano.




Wikipedia Entry:
Ginette Keller (* 1925 in Asnières-sur-Seine) is a French composer.

Biography
Keller studied at the Conservatoire de Paris with Nadia Boulanger, Tony Aubin and Olivier Messiaen. In 1951 she won the Second Prix de Rome with her cantata Et l'Homme vit se rouvrir les portes. She taught aural training at the Conservatoire and analysis and counterpoint at the École Normale de Musique in Paris.

She has composed for solo instruments, chamber and orchestral music. She has also written two operas with librettos by Alain Germain.

[jowcol]

I've posted a link to Piano Concerto 1 by Marcel Landowski in the Downloads folder.
The Piano Concerto No.1 is entitled "Poeme" and dates from 1949-50.


Wikipedia Entry:

Marcel François Paul Landowski (18 February 1915 – 23 December 1999) was a French composer, biographer and arts administrator.

Born at Pont-l'Abbé, Finistère, Brittany, he was the son of French sculptor Paul Landowski and great-grandson of the composer Henri Vieuxtemps.

As an infant he showed early musical promise, and studied piano under Marguerite Long. He entered the Paris Conservatoire in 1935 where one of his teachers was Pierre Monteux.

Landowski's greatest musical influence was Arthur Honegger. His entire output (including four symphonies, several concertos, operas and a Mass) bears testimony to Honegger's impact. Landowski went on to write a biography of his mentor.

Between the 1940s and the 1960s, Landowski composed the scores for several dozen films, most notably Gigi (1949).

Landowski eschewed the avant-garde approaches to music of his contemporaries, preferring a more conservative style. In 1966, France's Cultural Affairs minister André Malraux appointed Landowski as the ministry's director of music, a controversial appointment made in the teeth of opposition from the then ascendant modernists, led by Pierre Boulez.[1] One of his first acts was the establishment, in 1967, of the Orchestre de Paris. He also championed France's regional orchestras at a time when interest in them appeared to be waning.[2]

He died in hospital in Paris in 1999, aged 84.

[Holger]

jowcol, while your Landowski upload hasn't appeared yet, I can see a Harmonica Concerto by some "Pierre Lancen". I couldn't find out anything about this composer, but I think I have now solved the mystery. Actually, there is a Serge Lancen, born in 1922, died in 2005, who composed a Harmonic Concerto in 1954.

It only seems reasonable that the composer's surname was changed by error and that the Concerto by Serge Lancen is the one we really have.