Messages

I' will soon  post the following by Francaix

Le Diable Boiteux
H Cuenod (tenor), c.Paul (Baritone)
ORTF, E. Bout
September 30, 1949

[Tableaux Hindous by Jean Hubeau]

Tableaux Hindous by Jean Hubeau


ORTF,  Conductor E. Bigot
Radio Broadcast, Date Unknown

From the collection of Karl Miller

WOW!!

I really, really, really love this work!  Of all of the esoteric ORTF broadcasts I've been posting over the last couple of weeks, this one is the winner! 
It sounds to me like a very organic blend of late 19th century orientalism, early 20th Century impressionism, and a couple inspirational passages that Vaughan Williams or Bax would have approved of.  Wonderful orchestration, some haunting melodies.. I've been unable to listen to anything else for the last couple of days.

I have not been able to find much on the web about this work or when it was written, but I'd have to nominate Hubeau as the Unsung Composer of the Month^TM.

(or course, your mileage may vary...)

Wikipedia Bio:

Jean Hubeau (22 July 1917 – 19 August 1992) was a French pianist, composer and pedagogue.

Admitted at the age of 9 years to the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris, he studied composition with Paul Dukas, piano with Lazare Lévy, harmony with Jean Gallon, and counterpoint with Noël Gallon. He received a first prize in piano in 1930 at 13 years.

In 1934, he received the second Prix de Rome with his cantata The legend of Roukmani (first prize was awarded to Eugène Bozza). The following year, he was honored by Louis Diémer.

In 1941, when Claude Delvincourt was appointed director of the Conservatoire, Hubeau was appointed to the vacancy left by Delvincourt at the head of the Music Academy in Versailles. In addition, he took the post of professor of chamber music of the Paris Conservatory from 1957 to 1982 where he trained many students such as Jacques Rouvier, Géry Moutier, Olivier Charlier and Sonia Wieder-Atherton.

He was also a pianist known especially for his recordings of Gabriel Fauré, Robert Schumann and Dukas, which are recognized as benchmark versions.

Colin McPhee is one of my very favorite composers... Canadian and worldwide..

[Anniversary Dances for Orchestra, op.95 (1985) by William Mathias]

Anniversary Dances for Orchestra, op.95 (1985) by William Mathias


BBC National Orchestra of Wales (1st Performance)
Conducted by Composer
Work written for the 100th anniversary of the University of Bangor
Radio Broadcast, date unknown.

From the collection of Karl Miller


Mathias may not officially be "unsung", but it's always nice to here more from him. 

First, you may wish to read this fairly long interview with Mathias:
http://www.kcstudio.com/Mathias.html


Next, the Wikipedia Bio:

William Mathias CBE (1 November 1934 — 29 July 1992) was a Welsh composer.

Mathias was born in Whitland, Carmarthenshire. A child prodigy, he started playing the piano at the age of three and composing at the age of five. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music under Lennox Berkeley, where he was elected a fellow in 1965. In 1968, he was awarded the Bax Society Prize of the Harriet Cohen International Music Award. He was professor of music and head of department in the University of Wales, Bangor, from 1970 until 1988.
His compositions include large scale works, including an opera, The Servants (1980), three symphonies and three piano concertos. Much of his music was written for the Anglican choral tradition, most famously the anthem Let the people praise Thee, O God written for the July 1981 royal wedding of the Prince and Princess of Wales, which had a television audience of an estimated 1 billion people worldwide.

Mathias wrote his Sinfonietta – initially called Dance Suite – for the Leicestershire Schools Symphony Orchestra in late 1966, and it received its first performance at Leicester De Montfort Hall during the 1967 Schools Festival. It was also included in the orchestra's tour programme for Denmark and Germany later in the year. The LSSO made the first commercial recording of Sinfonietta for the Pye Golden Guinea label in July 1967 under the direction of the composer (see external links below).

He founded the North Wales International Music Festival in St Asaph in 1972 and directed it until his death in 1992.

He is buried outside St Asaph Cathedral.

[Requiem for the Victims of a War Torn World(2002) by Malcolm Forsyth]

Requiem for the Victims of a War Torn World(2002) by Malcolm Forsyth


World Premiere
Edmunton Symphony Orchestra
Grezegorz Nowak, Cond.
Radio Broadcast, 2002
Also features interview with composer.

From the collection of Karl Miller

Wikipedia Bio:
Malcolm Forsyth
Born   December 8, 1936
Pietermaritzburg, South Africa
Died   July 5, 2011 (aged 74)
Edmonton, Alberta


Malcolm Forsyth, CM (December 8, 1936 – July 5, 2011) was a South African and Canadian trombonist and composer. His daughter is National Arts Centre Orchestra cellist Amanda Forsyth.

Composers Allan Gilliland, Malcolm Forsyth, Alan Gordon Bell, John Estacio, and Jeffrey McCune following the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra's performance of their music in April 2005

Born in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, Forsyth studied trombone, conducting and composition at the University of Cape Town and received a Bachelor of Music in 1963.

He played trombone with the Cape Town Symphony Orchestra while studying and receiving his Master of Music in 1966 and Doctorate of Music in 1969. In 1968, he emigrated to Canada and joined the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra with which he played bass trombone for 11 years. He also taught at the University of Alberta and in 1996 was appointed Composer-in-Residence. He retired in 2002.

In 1970, he wrote Sketches from Natal for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Some of his other works include Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (1979), Sagittarius (1975), Quinquefid (1976), African Ode (Symphony No. 3) (1981), and Atayoskewin (Suite for Orchestra) (1984), which won the Juno Award for Classical Composition of the Year in 1987.

Obit from CBC News:
Composer Malcolm Forsyth dies at 74
CBC News

Malcolm Forsyth received the Order of Canada from former governor general Adrienne Clarkson in 2003. The South African-born, Canadian composer died on Tuesday at the age of 74. (Jonathan Hayward/Canadian Press)
      
Celebrated Canadian composer Malcolm Forsyth, whose orchestral, choral and chamber music creations have been performed around the globe, has died at the age of 74.

The award-winning, Edmonton-based musician died Tuesday morning. He had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in October.

A prolific, popular composer, Forsyth's music has been widely performed nationally and internationally, having received commissions from the CBC, the Canada Council for the Arts, the Canadian Brass, the Natal Philharmonic, artists such as Maureen Forrester and Judith Forst and the symphony orchestras of Montreal, Cape Town and Edmonton — where he spent 11 years playing trombone.

'I'm never more happy than when I can be transported by a performer or performance. Everything I've done is with that experience in mind.'—Malcolm Forsyth
For Forsyth, creating accessible work was of utmost importance.

"I always have had a sense of responsibility to the audience, coming from a deep sense of belief. I am myself a dedicated audience member, dedicated to the idea of concert music that does sweep people away," he said in a statement posted on his website.

"I'm never more happy than when I can be transported by a performer or performance. Everything I've done is with that experience in mind: Changing the space that the audience sits in for those brief few moments."

A new life in Canada
Born in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, Forsyth studied trombone, conducting and composition at the University of Cape Town. After graduating, he played trombone with the Cape Town Symphony Orchestra, taught music and wrote orchestrations for the South African Broadcasting Corporation while pursuing masters and doctorate degrees.

In 1968, he emigrated to Canada, stopping in Toronto before moving into a job teaching trombone, theory and composition at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. He would remain on its faculty until his retirement in 2002

[Music of Claude Champagne:]

Music of Claude Champagne:

Claude Champagne (left) and Wilfrid Pelletier, 1943

Quartet in C-Major
Office de Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française (ORTF) String Quartet
Radio Broadcast,  no date

Altitude
Choeur + Orch Radio Canada- C. Houdret
Radio broadcast, no date.

From the collection of Karl Miller

It seems that the only Canadians we have here come from Karl's collection!

I particularly like the second work-- it reminds me of a somewhat more modern version of Hanson's Lament for Beowulf-- but your mileage may very.

Wikipedia Bio:

Claude Champagne (27 May 1891 – 21 December 1965) was a Canadian composer.

Born in Montreal, Quebec, he studied violin with Albert Chamberland, organ with Orpha-F. Deveaux, and piano with Romain-Octave Pelletier I and Alexis Contant at the Conservatoire national de musique. In 1921 he went straight to Paris to study music. By then he was drawn into modality, which stayed with him the rest of his life. At his return to Canada he became heavily involved with teaching, notably playing an instrumental role in establishing the Conservatoire de musique et d'art dramatique du Québec in 1942. In 1943 he was appointed the first assistant director of the Montreal Conservatoire. He was attached to the Montreal Catholic School Commission as co-ordinator of solfége in elementary schools, and he was at the same time professor at the McGill Conservatory. After that he mainly taught many of the country's most promising composers. He died in Montreal in 1965.

His notable students included Jocelyne Binet, Lydia Boucher, François Brassard, Isabelle Delorme, Jean Deslauriers, Orpha-F. Deveaux, Roger Matton, Pierre Mercure, François Morel, Clermont Pépin, Micheline Coulombe Saint-Marcoux, Georges Savaria, Robert Turner, and Jean Vallerand.

[Symphony 2 by Elsa Barraine]

Symphony 2 by Elsa Barraine


Orchestra Nationale, P. de Frietas-Branco
Radio broadcast, Feb 5, 1952
From the collection of Karl Miller

NOTE: This is evidently a different performance than the Barraine 2nd already posted.

Wikipedia Bio on Barraine:

Elsa Jacqueline Barraine (13 February 1910 – 20 March 1999) was a French composer. Born in Paris, she was the daughter of cellist Alfred Barraine. She studied with Jean Gallon (harmony), Abel Estyle (piano), George Caussade (Fugue), and Paul Dukas (composition) at the Conservatoire de Paris. She won first prize for both harmony (1925) and piano accompaniment (1927) from the conservatory.[1]

In 1929 Barraine won first prize at the Prix de Rome for her cantata La Vierge guerrière; having received second prize at the contest the year before for her Heracles à Delpes. From 1936-1939 she was the directorof vocal music for Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française. During World War II she was an active member of the Front National des Musiciens which resisted German occupation. From 1944-1946 she was director of the Orchestre National de France and music director of the record label and music publishing house Le Chant du Monde. She participated in the Association des musiciens progressistes in 1949 along with Serge Nigg, Roger Desormiere, Louis Durey, and Charles Koechlin.[1]

Barraine joined the faculty of the Conservatoire de Paris in 1953, initially as a teacher of harmony. She later taught musical analysis at the conservatoire from 1969-1973. She served as the Director of Music at the French Ministry of Culture from 1972-1974.[1]

[Variations on a Theme by Vaughan Williams by Francis Jackson]

Variations on a Theme by Vaughan Williams by Francis Jackson


Possibly "Homage to Vaughan Williams?"
York Symphony Orchestra
Composer, Cond.
Radio broadcast, date unknown.

From the collection of Karl Miller

I would say without much doubt that,  if you like 20th Century British orchestral music, you will enjoy this.   I don't think Vaughan Williams would have been offended at all.  There is a brief radio interview with composer at the end of the track which may cast some doubt on the title.

Wiki Bio:

Dr Francis Alan Jackson CBE (born 2 October 1917) is pre-eminent as a British organist and composer.

A popular figure in the musical profession, both nationally and internationally, Jackson was born in Malton, Yorkshire and received his early education as a Chorister at York Minster under his precursor, the legendary Sir Edward Bairstow. Himself Organist of York Minster from 1946 until his official retirement in 1982, Jackson played for the wedding of Elizabeth II's cousin Prince Edward, Duke of Kent to Katherine Worsley on 8 June 1961.

As well as having given recitals and concerts all over the world, Jackson has made numerous recordings of solo organ music, and of choral music with York Minster Choir.

Composition and writing
His extensive output of sacred and secular music includes canticles, anthems, hymn tunes (including the widely sung East Acklam), organ sonatas and other organ pieces such as Diversion for Mixtures, two acclaimed monodramas - Daniel in Babylon and A Time of Fire, an overture, Brigantia, a concerto, a symphony, and solo songs. Jackson's creative output has continued since his retirement.

He is also the author of a biography of his teacher, mentor, and predecessor Sir Edward Bairstow entitled Blessed City: The Life and Works of Sir Edward C. Bairstow (ISBN 1 85072 192 0).

Key Events
•   1929-1933 Chorister of York Minster under Edward Bairstow
•   1933-1940 Organist of Malton Parish Church
•   1937 Gains FRCO with the Limpus Prize
•   1946-1982 Organist of York Minster
•   1957 Gains DMus Durham University
•   1970 Becomes Fellow of Westminster Choir College, Princeton, New Jersey
•   1972-1974 President of the Royal College of Organists
•   1978 Appointed OBE for services to music.
•   1982 On retiring from York Minster in 1982 he received the Fellowship of the Royal Northern College of Music, the Doctorate of the University of York and, at the hands of the Archbishop of York, Lord Blanch, the Order of Saint William of York.
•   2007 Promoted to CBE in the Queen's birthday honours for services to music.


There is also an interview with the composer if you wish to learn more about him here:
http://www.simonlindley.org.uk/frankly_speaking.html

Thanks, although none of this would have been possible without Karl Miller, who provided me with a LOT of material to share here.  He is a strong advocate that music like this (which is not commercially supported) needs to be shared for it to stay alive, and the worse "collections" of this type of music are the ones that don't share, and worse yet, are on media that is deteriorating over time.

All I've been doing is "ripping" the sources he sends, and trying to add a little information about each artist or work.  (I would hesitate to call this research-- it is more like "Scrap Booking"- it's a matter of what I can find a a few minutes).  I still have a couple more discs of less well known  French composers to share, so stay tuned! 

I believe so.  The conductor was Belgian, and there is a post of his first Symphony (quite good) on Youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owH-vJXdb4Y

[Lémanic 70]

Nice to see that Zbinden is still among us! Born in 1917 he will be 95 in November. (Only two months earlier Robert Ward will celebrate his 95th.)

The overture has the correct title Lémanic 70, op. 48 (1970)
The number relates perhaps to the year of composition. But what does 'Lémanic' mean?

Thanks!  I'll update the posts.

Allow me to offer my belated birthday wishes,  and my thanks for all of the hard work you've put into this site.    Between the catalogs  and the indices, this site is becoming an amazing resource.

(I am tempted to start a pool on how long your "extended break" lasts before the temptation to do "just one more" lures you back, but that is another story...)

I'm curious to know what you think about the Hailstork Symphony 1.  His Symphony 2 may be a tad long, but has some very powerful and moving moments.  I'll need to listen to that again.

[Lémanic Overture 70 (Op 48) by Julien-Franḉois Zbinden]

Lémanic Overture 70 (Op 48) by Julien-Franḉois Zbinden


BRT, Daniel Sternefeld
Radio Broadcast (date unknown)
From the collection of Karl Miller

I've only found a little about Zbinden, but his jazz interests are reflected in this work, but no overwhelmingly so.


Biography

Julien-François Zbinden was born in Rolle in canton Waadt, Switzerland. Following studies in piano and subsequent studies in violin and voice he made his musical debut in 1938 as an orchestral pianist having been passionate about jazz from a very early age. He began composing as a so-called autodidact. From 1947 Zbinden was employed in the musical department of the Radio Suisse Romande and quickly moved into positions with a high level of responsibility. From 1973 until 1979 and from 1987 until 1991 he was president of the Swiss Society for the Rights of Authors of Musical Works (SUISA). A lifetime of composing has led to a catalogue consisting of more than one hundred works including operas, oratorio, symphonies, concertos, choral music, radio works, music for theatre and film, many of which have received international acclaim. Julien-François Zbinden is one of the contemporary Swiss composers whose works entertain a world-wide audience, with a great number of these works having been recorded.

[Music of Yves Baudrier]

Music of Yves Baudrier



1. Eleanora Symphonic Poem after Poe
2. Radio Outro
ORTF, Andre Girard
Radio Broadcast, Date Unknown

3. Radio Intro
4. Le musicien dans la cité : poème cinématographique
ORTF, Daniel Chabrun
Radio Broadcast, Date Unknown

From the collection of Karl Miller

Baudrier as also a member of  La Jeune France-- (along with Jolivet and Lesur)  a group that tried to put a more "human" and mystical spin on what was brewing up in modernism, and led towards a style that Virgil Thompson called "Neo-Impressionism".

I've found very little about Baudrier in English.

The first work,  Eleonora, suite symphonique pour ondes martenots et petit orchestre d'après un poème d'Edgar Poe, was written in 1938 and used the Ondes Martenot pretty heavily-- I'd have to describe it as eerie-- but if it's dedicated to Poe I wouldn't have it any other way.

The second work was a cinemagraphic poem for an imaginary movie, in 12 continuous movements,  portraying a composer wandering  in Paris.  It was originally written in 1937, and revised twice more, ( in 1947, and in 1964 for a TV special).  I'm not sure which version this is.

[Concerto pour trio d'anches et orchestra by Noël Gallon]

Concerto pour trio d'anches et orchestra  by Noël Gallon


Trio Daraux
ORTF, Conducted by E Bigot
October 6, 1962
Radio Broadcast

From the collection of Karl Miller

I'd characterize this work as fairly light and playful-- although a  bit introspective in the middle.


Wiki Bio:

Noël Gallon (11 September 1891 - 26 December 1966) was a French composer and music educator. His compositional output includes several choral works and vocal art songs, 10 preludes, a Toccata for piano, a Sonata for flute and bassoon, a Fantasy for piano and orchestra, an Orchestral Suite, and the lyrical drama Paysans et Soldats (1911).

Born in Paris, Gallon was the younger brother of composer Jean Gallon with whom he studied harmony at the Paris Conservatoire. In 1910 he won the Prix de Rome with the cantata Acis et Galathée. In 1920 he joined the faculty of the conservatoire as a professor of solfège. He began teaching counterpoint at the school in 1926 . His many notable students include such well-known composers as Claude Arrieu, Tony Aubin, Jocelyne Binet, Gerd Boder, Paul Bonneau, Pierre Dervaux, Maurice Duruflé, Henri Dutilleux, Ulvi Cemal Erkin, Lukas Foss, Jean Hubeau, Paul Kuentz, Paule Maurice, Xian Xinghai, Olivier Messiaen, and René Saorgin.