Various Composers - L'Album des Six (Emily Beynon; Andrew West)

Information

• (01) Poulenc - Sonata for flute and piano
• (04) Auric - Aria
• (05) Tailleferre - Pastorale
• (06) Auric - Imaginées 1
• (07) Auric - Prélude
• (08) Durey - Romance sans paroles, Op. 21
• (09) Honegger - Sarabande
• (10) Milhaud - Mazurka
• (11) Poulenc - Valse
• (12) Tailleferre - Pastorale
• (13) Durey - Sonatine, Op. 25
• (16) Honegger - Danse de la chèvre
• (17) Honegger - Romance
• (18) Tailleferre - Forlane
• (19) Durey - Deux Dialogues, Op. 114
• (21) Milhaud - Sonatine, Op. 76

Emily Beynon, flute
Andrew West, piano

Date: 2000
Label: Hyperion
https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_CDH55386

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Review

Hyperion has enriched the catalogs with far more than its fair share of superb releases, and this is yet another one—long may the enterprising company's run continue! The Welsh-born Emily Beynon, who is currently principal flute of Amsterdam's Concertgebouw Orchestra (and whose teachers include the distinguished William Bennett), and pianist Andrew West (whose other recital partners have included Sarah Chang and Ian Bostridge) here present winning performances of the complete music for flute and piano (and for solo flute) by six distinctive composers of the French school (Honegger was actually Swiss) who are likely forever to be united by the term Les Six, apparently coined in January 1920 by Henri Collet. Several of the individual readings easily stand shoulder-to-shoulder alongside classic renditions by artists with longer pedigrees and longer names, among other things. That said, however, this CD's greatest appeal—and it is considerable—is likely to be the fact that it collects all this music in one place. It was surprising to discover that there isn't all that much music for flute and flute with piano—and, more surprising, still, to find that there was room on this CD for all of it plus the charming little collection of solo piano music called Album des Six, in which there are contributions from all of 'em. I suspect I will not be alone among readers when I say that I had heretofore tended to pigeonhole these composers into the period leading up to and encompassing the years of WWII, so it was a revelation to discover that the music spans some 62 years, starting in 1914 and ending—with Auric's Aria—in 1976. This means that some of these works may reasonably be called "contemporary," and indeed some of them are—but they are first and foremost French, although there's precious little here that fits the wispy, floating-cloud, and "Impressionistic" image that that term may imply to some listeners.

A quick check of New Grove reveals (to the extent that one can trust that source) that the works presented here do indeed encompass all that survive; although M7's listings are in several cases "selective" or incomplete, in no case do there appear to be youthful or otherwise unpublished scores that should be included but are not. Outstanding notes by Deborah Mawer are the icing on the musical cake. The sound is close and a bit too reverberant for my taste, but a slight bass-cut helped immeasurably in my personal listening room. This CD, which is definitely Want List material, is urgently recommended to everyone who has even a passing interest in fine flute-playing or works of this period.

-- John W. Lambert, FANFARE

More reviews:
https://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/lalbum-des-six
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2001/May01/LesSix.htm
https://www.amazon.com/LAlbum-Six-Compl-Works-Flute/dp/B000058UUW

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"Les Six" is a name given to a group of six French composers who worked in Montparnasse. The name, inspired by Mily Balakirev's The Five, originates in critic Henri Collet's 1920 article "Les cinq Russes, les six Français et M. Satie". Their music is often seen as a reaction against both the musical style of Richard Wagner and the impressionist music of Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel. The members were Georges Auric (1899–1983), Louis Durey (1888–1979), Arthur Honegger (1892–1955), Darius Milhaud (1892–1974), Francis Poulenc (1899–1963), and Germaine Tailleferre (1892–1983).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Six

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Emily Beynon (born 1969 in Swansea, Wales) is a British flautist who is principal flute of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. She studied with Margaret Ogonovsky at the Royal College of Music, with William Bennett at the Royal Academy, and with Alain Marion in Paris. Equally at home in front of the orchestra as in its midst, Beynon has performed as concerto soloist with, amongst others, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, and BBC Orchestras. As a chamber musician she works regularly with her sister, the harpist, Catherine Beynon and the pianist Andrew West.
https://emilybeynon.com/

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Andrew West (born 5 February 1979 in Tayport) is an English pianist. West studied piano and composition with Christopher Elton and John Streets at the Royal Academy of Music, and won second prize for piano at the Geneva International Music Competition in 1990. He now coaches on the Vocal Faculty at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama as well as teaching piano accompaniment at the RAM. He is also one of the artistic directors of the Nuremberg International Chamber Music Festival. As an accompanist West has partnerships with many leading singers and instrumentalists.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_West_(pianist)

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