Henri Kowalski (1841-1916) – Illusion d'un voyage en mer

[Wheesht]

A link to a blog entry on the 'images musicales' website makes me wonder what this 'Symphonie descriptive pour Orchestre' by the French pianist and composer Henri Kowalski sounded like and whether it could be resurrected and enjoyed in its own right without the experience of the 'Maréorama'. The piano reduction of three of the four movements is at IMSLP.
The composer's English wikipedia entry is a stub, but the one in French is quite detailed.

[tpaloj]

This was such an interesting read, thank you for sharing it.

BNF also has the 4th movement (Constantinople) piano score, for some reason it isn't digitized like the other movements. With a quick search I didn't see any entries for an orchestral score though but someone should confirm it. I hope the orchestral score didn't end up as collateral damage in the bankruptcy negotiations of the Maréorama, and it might be found somewhere...

[Wheesht]

 I have since ordered the only CD ever issued with music by Kowalski (afaik): 15 works for piano and 7 mélodies for soprano. This was issued by the 'Bibliothèque municipale' of 'Le Pays de Dinan' in 2016 and is still available from the library with payment having to be made via invoice issued by the municipal administration. This ordering process is somewhat convoluted but was well worth the effort for me. I find especially the piano music very attractive and varied.
The pianist is François Dumont, the soprano Helen Kearns.

[eschiss1]

Thanks! His music, some published iirc by American publishers at the time and not just in France, suggesting some popularity over here, I've found to be at least pleasant judging from score (which is not damning with faint praise, that takes talent.)

[tpaloj]

There is a wonderful lecture by one Dr. Erkki Huhtamo on youtube about the Mareorama. All four parts of Kowalski's suite are played on the piano beginning at 27:00. Most enjoyable to me was the Venice part, but the others are all passable salon-like pieces too. Highly recommend listening to the whole passionately recited lecture as well.

https://youtu.be/Xz4rh0SSPx4

[Wheesht]

Thanks for unearthing this truly fascinating lecture.