French Music

[TerraEpon]

The only concertante pieces I have listed for Massenet are the Piano Concerto in Eb and Fantaisie for cello and orchestra. And the Meditation...

No reference to anything lost or anything that could be orchestrated or whatever (in fact the ONLY violin piece is the Meditation from Thais)

[JimL]

"It's a mystery.  And I don't like mysteries.  They give me a bellyache, and I've got a whopper right now." - Capt. James T. Kirk of the Starship Enterprise.

- From "The Man Trap" written by George Clayton Johnson

Eric, any chance you could help me with the movements of the Machavariani PC?  I can't even find Fyrexia's YouTube of it, with the score.

[eschiss1]

Oh- sorry!!!... did try to find out re the Machavariani Piano concerto. Will keep trying but no joy so far. There seems to have been a Franz Konwitchny (apologies for spelling) conducted recording back when, I found out, maybe eBay has a scan of its back cover- that sometimes helps?... (though I sometimes find that those track listings on those back covers are inaccurate, unsurprisingly. Well, nothing works all the time- The Human Condition- Hush, Eric, just Hush now... and apologies for putting that in the wrong cat-egory. (Mrow ) Would fix but- (agh, bad joke.)

[JimL]

BTW the conductor in the Marteau VC is our old pal Werner Andreas Albert, not W.A. Albrecht.

Re the Machavariani, does anybody know where Tony is?  That YouTube is GONE.

[semloh]

Many thanks to allison for those two enchanting piano concertos by JAËLL.  Superb!

[eschiss1]

Re Marteau: from the Yale Worklist  (itself taken from a 1984 book) the op.35 duplication seems to be no typo, whatever its source. Lots of works listed there that haven't made it to the IMSLP list; will have to fix that. The Sinfonia gloria naturae is given op.30; it, like the symphony no.1 mentioned in a German journal, seems to date from ca.?1922 (premiered in that year...), so... probably the same year.) The WoO list contains some interesting seeming stuff too including another string quartet...

[eschiss1]

Does anyone know more about the Thirion 2nd symphony (B minor)? It seems to have been published by either Durand or Eschig (in some form, probably just a reduction which is the form in which their site lists it now), to have occupied him between 1914 and 1919 or so, and been premiered sometime in or before 1921 - that much I think I have so far... seems a good piece.

[jowcol]

Music of Jacques Ibert


1.  Cello Concerto
M Marchesini (vic)
Orch de l'Assoc de Concerts Oubradous
Feb 25, 1974

2. Angelique- Farce en un Ache
H. Nagorsen, G. Sibera, L. Masson, M. Sieyes, O. Turn,
P.-M Pegaud, L. Hagen-William, L. Dachary, C Vierne
October 25, 1976

3.  Capriccio
Orch Nice-Cote-d'Azur, R. Chevreux Cond.
October 19, 1972


All are from radio broadcasts.

From the collection of Karl Miller

From the Wikipedia Bio:


Jacques François Antoine Ibert (15 August 1890 – 5 February 1962) was a French composer. Having studied music from an early age, he studied at the Paris Conservatoire and won its top prize, the Prix de Rome at his first attempt, despite studies interrupted by his service in World War I.

Ibert pursued a successful composing career, writing (sometimes in collaboration with other composers) seven operas, five ballets, incidental music for plays and films, songs, choral works, and chamber music. He is probably best remembered for his orchestral works including Divertissement (1930) and Escales (1922).

As a composer, Ibert did not attach himself to any of the prevalent genres of music of his time, and has been described as an eclectic. This is seen even in his best-known pieces: Divertissement, for small orchestra is lighthearted, even frivolous, and Escales (1922) is a ripely romantic work for large orchestra.
In tandem with his creative work, Ibert was the director of the Académie de France at the Villa Medici in Rome. During World War II he was proscribed by the pro-Nazi government in Paris, and for a time he went into exile in Switzerland. Restored to his former eminence in French musical life after the war, his final musical appointment was in charge of the Paris Opera and the Opéra-Comique.

Biography
Early years
Ibert was born in Paris. His father was a successful businessman and his mother was a talented pianist who had studied with Antoine François Marmontel and encouraged the young Ibert's musical interests. From the age of four, he began studying music, first learning the violin and then the piano. After leaving school, he earned a living as a private teacher, as an accompanist, and as a cinema pianist. He also started composing songs, sometimes under the pen name William Berty. In 1910 he became a student at the Paris Conservatoire, studying with Emile Pessard (harmony), André Gedalge (counterpoint) and Paul Vidal (composition).[1] Gédalge also gave him private lessons in orchestration; Ibert's fellow-students at these private classes included Arthur Honegger and Darius Milhaud.[2]

Ibert's musical studies were interrupted by the outbreak of World War I, in which he served as a naval officer. After the war he married Rosette Veber, daughter of the painter Jean Veber. Resuming his studies, he won the Conservatoire's top prize, the Prix de Rome at his first attempt, in 1919.[2] The prize gave him the opportunity to pursue further musical studies in Rome. In the course of these, Ibert composed his first opera, Persée et Andromède (1921), to a libretto by his brother-in-law, the author Michel Veber, writing under the pen name "Nino".[3]

Composer and administrator
Among Ibert's early orchestral compositions were La Ballade de la geôle de Reading, inspired by Oscar Wilde's poem, and Escales (Ports of call), inspired by his experiences of Mediterranean ports while he was serving in the navy.[4] The first of these works was played at the Concerts Colonne in October 1922, conducted by Gabriel Pierné; the second was performed in January 1924 with Paul Paray conducting the Orchestre Lamoureux. The two works made Ibert an early reputation both at home and abroad. His publisher Alphonse Leduc commissioned two collections of piano music from him, Histoires and Les Rencontres, which enhanced his popularity.[2] Rencontres. In 1927 his opéra-bouffe Angélique was produced; it was the most successful of his operas, a musical farce, displaying eclectic style and flair.[3]

In addition to composing, Ibert was active as a conductor and in musical administration. He was a member of professional committees, and in 1937 he was appointed director of the Académie de France at the Villa Medici in Rome. Ibert, with the enthusiastic support of his wife "threw himself wholeheartedly into his administrative role and proved an excellent ambassador of French culture in Italy."[2] He held the post until the end of 1960, except for an enforced break while France and Italy were at war during World War II.

Later years
The war years were difficult for Ibert. In 1940 the Vichy government banned his music and he retreated to Antibes, in the south of France, and later to Switzerland and the Haute-Savoie. In August 1944, he was readmitted to the musical life of the country when General de Gaulle recalled him to Paris. In 1955 Ibert was appointed administrator of the Réunion des Théâtres Lyriques Nationaux, which ran both the Paris Opera and the Opéra-Comique. After less than a year, his health obliged him to retire. Shortly afterwards he was elected to the Académie des Beaux-Arts.[2]

Ibert died in Paris aged 71, and is buried at Passy Cemetery in the city's 16th arrondissement.

Music
Ibert refused to ally himself to any particular musical fashion or school, maintaining that "all systems are valid", a position that has caused many commentators to categorise him as "eclectic".[3] His biographer, Alexandra Laederich, writes, "His music can be festive and gay ... lyrical and inspired, or descriptive and evocative ... often tinged with gentle humour...[A]ll the elements of his musical language bar that of harmony relate closely to the Classical tradition."[2] The early orchestral works, such as Escales, are in "a lush Impressionist style",[5] but Ibert is at least as well known for lighthearted, even frivolous, pieces, among which are the Divertissement for small orchestra and the Flute Concerto.[5]

Ibert's stage works similarly embrace a wide variety of styles. His first opera, Persée et Andromède, is a concise, gently satirical piece. Angélique displays his "eclectic style and his accomplished writing of pastiche set pieces".[3] Le roi d'Yvetot is written, in part in a simple folklike style. The opéra bouffe Gonzague is another essay in the old opera bouffe style. L'Aiglon, composed jointly with Honegger, employs commedia dell'arte characters and much musical pastiche in a style both accessible and sophisticated.[2] For the farcical Les petites Cardinal the music is in set pieces in the manner of an operetta. By contrast Le chevalier errant, a choreographic piece incorporating chorus and two reciters, is in an epic style.[3] Ibert's practice of collaborating with other composers extended to his works for the ballet stage. His first work composed expressly for the ballet was a waltz for L'éventail de Jeanne (1929) to which he was one of ten contributors, others of whom were Ravel and Poulenc. He was the sole composer of four further ballets between 1934 and 1954.[2]

For the theatre and cinema, Ibert was a prolific composer of incidental music. His best-known theatre score was music for Eugéne Labiche's Un chapeau de paille d'Italie, which Ibert later reworked as the suite Divertissement. Other scores ranged from music for farce to that for Shakespeare productions. His cinema scores covered a similarly broad range. He wrote the music for more than a dozen French films, and for American directors he composed a score for Orson Welles's 1948 film of Macbeth, and the Circus ballet for Gene Kelly's Invitation to the Dance in 1952.[

[Richard Moss]

Have been unable to unpack the Ibert downloads with WINZIP.  Any suggestions what other Microsoft utility will work please?

Richard Moss

[Richard Moss]

Apologies for my earlier note re unpacking Ibert - I meant the Marteau downloads in .7z format.

Richard

[mjkFendrich]

Sorry for that, I guess you need the freeware 7zip utilities for that.

Due to size limitations at mediafire (the VC lasts 46 mins.)  I had to put it
into a split archive and unfortunately haven't got any RAR-archiver which
seems to be more common for that task.

[TerraEpon]

I wholeheartedly recommend 7-zip, it's a great freeware alternative
http://www.7-zip.org/

If nothing else, it works for the occasional 7z file such as this one.

[Balapoel]

Well, it doesn't help those of us on macs, unfortunately. Can someone re-up it with a standard .rar or .zip?

I wholeheartedly recommend 7-zip, it's a great freeware alternative
http://www.7-zip.org/

If nothing else, it works for the occasional 7z file such as this one.

[mjkFendrich]

a quick search for 7zip on iOS showed me that there is IZArc
   http://www.izarc.org/ios.html
which should be able to handle 7zip files

[jowcol]

Pres d'un Source (for strings) by Ayme Kunc

1.Radio  Intro
2. Pres d'un Source

Ricercata de Paris
Alexandre Brussilovski, Cond.

Radio Broadcast, Date Unknown

From the collection of Karl Miller


This is the first of two French works for strings from a radio broadcast.

I've only been able to dig up the following snippets on Kunc in English.

Aymé Kunc
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Aymé Kunc (born Toulouse, 1877 – died there, 1958) was a French composer and administrator, director of the Toulouse Conservatory from 1914 until 1944. He won second prize alongside Maurice Ravel in the Prix de Rome competition of 1902; until 1907 he was the orchestra chief at the Théâtre Apollo in Paris. In 1914 he took over leadership of the Toulouse Conservatory, in which capacity he served for thirty years.

Beginning in 1996, the Association Aymé-Kunc has promoted the composer's music, and has recorded a number of his works, including the Messe de Sainte-Cécile.


Aymé Kunc (1877-1958)
A French conductor, composer and educator. Born in Toulouse, 20 January 1877 as the 10th child of 12 children. His father held a degree with his research on church music and worked at the Toulouse Cathédral. His mother also had studied piano with César Franck in Paris Conservatory. Needless to say his first musical lesson was from his parents. In 1894, he obtained the first prize at piano class in Toulouse Conservatory and entered Paris conservatory where he also obtained the first prizes on the classes of piano, solfège, and harmony. Then he started to learn composition with Charles Lenepveu from 1985. He had subscribed The Roman Prize (Prix de Rome) for 5 times, and in 1902 he obtained the first prize with his cantata 'Alcyone'. Although he had gone back to France in 1907 after 4 yesrs of life in Rome, and took up the director's post of Apolo theater in Paris, he moved out Paris to Toulouse in proportion to the request for the director's post of Toulouse Conservatory where he kept the position until 1944, and played an important role to raise the level of musical concern in there by conducting the first performance of Richard Wagner's 'Parsifal'. He was chosen a member of Academy of Beaux-Arts in 1949. He died in Toulouse, 13 February 1958.