Cécile Chaminade - Piano Works Vol. 1 (Peter Jacobs)

Information

Composer: Cécile Chaminade

1. Chaconne, Op. 8
2. 6 Pièces humoristiques, Op. 87: 4. Autrefois
3. 5 Airs de Ballet (from Callirhoë), Op. 37b: 1. Pas des Amphores (Deuxième Air de Ballet)
4. Poèmes provençales, Op. 127: 2. Solitude
5. Romance in D major, Op. 137
6. L'Ondine, Op. 101
7. 6 Études de concert, Op. 35: 1. Scherzo in C major
8. 6 Études de concert, Op. 35: 2. Automne
9. Thème Varié in A major, Op. 89
10. Sérénade in D major, Op. 29
11. 6 Romances sans paroles, Op. 76: 1. Souvenance
12. 6 Romances sans paroles, Op. 76: 2. Élévation
13. Étude mélodique in G flat major, Op. 118
14. Étude pathétique in B minor, Op. 124
15. La lisonjera (L'Enjôleuse), Op. 50
16. Valse romantique, Op. 115
17. Poèmes provençales, Op. 127: 4. Les Pêcheurs de nuit
18. Deuxième valse, Op. 77
19. Étude scholastique, Op. 139

Peter Jacobs, piano
Date: 1991
Label: Hyperion
http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_CDH55197

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Review

MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL'S RECORDING OF THE MONTH

For too long Cécile Chaminade’s charming, enchanting music lay forgotten, languishing below the musical radar because of two unforgivable sins. First, she composed only slight, tuneful and undemanding salon pieces and, second, she was a woman. Therefore, in the eyes of the music establishment she was beyond the pale; most dictionaries and books, either ignoring her existence or including only the briefest, supercilious entries.

Now through this recording originally released by Hyperion in 1991 we have the opportunity of assessing the undeniable worth of these exquisitely crafted little compositions. In addition there are two other volumes in the Hyperion series as well as recordings like Anne Sofie von Otter’s 2001 recital of Chaminade songs accompanied by Bengt Forsberg on DG 471 331-2. The same disc also includes five pieces for violin and piano.

Chaminade, born in Paris, was something of a musical prodigy, writing sacred music at the age of eight. Bizet, no less, noted her talent and advised her parents to ensure she had a formal musical education. But of course women were not allowed into the Paris Conservatoire; however, she was able to study piano with Le Couppey and with Savard for counterpoint, harmony and fugue and violin under Martin Marsick, a pupil of Joachim, plus composition with Benjamin Godard.

During her long life - she died in Monte Carlo in 1944 - Chaminade produced some 350 works including a comic opera, a ballet, a choral symphony (Les amazons), chamber and orchestral music and about one hundred songs. But the area in which she excelled and was the most productive was the short lyric piano piece, many of which became very popular bringing her considerable success and fame in France Britain and the USA.

As I listen to a CD, I habitually mark numbers that particularly impress me for comment in my review. On this occasion I was so charmed, that I found that I had marked practically every one of its nineteen pieces. So I will just restrict myself to mentioning just a half dozen or so.

The best known of this set is probablyAutomne.Conceived in the Romantic etude tradition of Chopin and Liszt with something, too, of an early Fauré nocturne, this gem at nearly seven minutes, the most substantial of all the numbers here, is beautifully evocative of autumnal serenity and melancholic nostalgia but not without a central stormy turbulence. I was attracted to the three Études: theÉtude mélodiquehas a most disarming Schumann-like tune while theÉtude pathétiqueis correspondingly passionate, vehement even. TheÉtude scholastiqueis hardly academic, more of a lampoon of the strict routines demanded by the conservatories; written in the Baroque style, the piece is quite a brilliant toccata with its fast triplets giving it the feel of a gigue. There are hints of Brahms and Elgar.Pêcheurs de nuit(‘Fishermen at night’) is another imposing piece. Barcarolle-like it has a sense of the sinister and the tragic as well a heroic swagger. Two lovely piecesRomance in DandSolitude,the second of Chaminade’sPoèmes provençales, and reminiscent of material used by Poulenc, are redolent of sweet melancholy.

Norman Demuth , in his study of French piano music was one of the few commentators who did have something of value to say about Chaminade, "she was nearly a genius in that she knew exactly what and how to write for pianists of moderate ability ... we wish every writer for the piano had her innate gifts and could be equally musicianly in their own ways". But ofElévation(‘Exaltation’) he was scathing, calling it ‘dreadful’. Surely a rather harsh and dismissive judgement based on the evidence of the delicacy and refinement of Peter Jacobs’s reading which reveals a charming and innocent little confection.

But I am being carried away, mentioning well over those half dozen pieces, and I must also mentionL’Ondinethe little tone picture of the water nymph, a limpid and rippling enchantment.

An undemanding and tuneful collection that will enchant all but the strictest classicists and the hardest-hearted.

-- Ian Lace, MusicWeb International

More reviews:

http://www.allmusic.com/album/release/piano-music-by-c%C3%A9cile-chaminade-vol-1-mr0002064422

http://www.amazon.com/Chaminade-Piano-Music-Vol-1/dp/B000B86578

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Cécile Chaminade (8 August 1857 – 13 April 1944) was a French composer and pianist, one of the relatively few women composers of her time to achieve great popularity. She was a regular on British concert stages and a big hit in America. Many of Chaminade's piano compositions received good reviews from critics; her music was described as tuneful, highly accessible and mildly chromatic. Chaminade was relegated to obscurity for the second half of the 20th century, as her piano pieces and songs mostly forgotten. The Flute Concertino in D major, Op. 107 (1902) is her most popular piece today.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%C3%A9cile_Chaminade

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Peter Jacobs (born August 17, 1945 in London) is an English pianist. He was educated at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he studied piano with Alexander Kelley and harmony with Eric Fenby. Jacobs has etched out a career built largely on the performance of works by lesser-known and neglected English and French composers of the late 19th and 20th centuries. He has made numerous recordings for several labels, including Hyperion, Olympia, Continuum, Priory Records UK, and Altarus. Jacobs also served on the faculty of Latymer Upper School in Hammersmith, West London.

http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Jacobs-Peter.htm

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