Guillaume Lekeu - Complete Works (Various Artists)

Information

Composer: Guillaume Lekeu

• Complete Works (8CD)

Philippe Hirshhorn, violin

Philippe Koch, violin

Marie Hallynck, cello

Jean-Claude Vanden Eynden, piano

Luc Devos, piano

Bernard Foccroulle, organ

Domus

Camerata Quartet

Arthur Grumiaux Trio

Chœur Symphonique de Namur

Orchestre Philharmonique de Liège

Pierre Bartholomée, conductor

Compilation: 2015

Label: Ricercar

https://outhere-music.com/en/albums/lekeu-les-fleurs-pales-du-souvenir-complete-works

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Review

These recordings have all been released before. They were made in Liège between 1987 and 1994 and released by Ricercar in a boxed set. On the occasion of its reissue Jérôme Lejeune’s extensive booklet notes have been revised and expanded and the text now contains a chronological analysis of the works. The track running order doesn’t, however, reflect a chronological survey which would be, in any case, somewhat unusual. A sensible balance has been achieved.

A look at the track-listing will show some of the principal musicians that were involved in this valuable project, but it doesn’t hurt to reference the names of violinists Philippe Hirshhorn and Philippe Koch, pianists Luc Devos and Jean-Claude Vanden Eynden, Domus, Quatuor Camerata and the Liège Philharmonic directed by Pierre Bartholomée. There are, however, many others and their laudable contributions to this project should not be overlooked.

The first disc contains his most famous and oft-recorded work, the Violin Sonata in a vivid performance by Philippe Hirshhorn and Jean-Claude Vanden Eynden. It’s worth noting that Philippe Koch, who plays the smaller violin works, is another elite interpreter of this sonata. The incomplete Piano Quartet is also on CD1, played by Domus. It was one of the first of Lekeu’s works to be recorded, on Decca 78s, and makes all the more regrettable the fact that it’s a two-movement torso, and beautifully played here by Domus. The Camerata Quartet do the honours for the Méditation, full of intensity but very personal harmonies, as they do in the gravely beautiful Molto Adagio contained in the second disc. This disc offers a series of music for solo piano (Luc Devos). Despite its name the Lento doloroso, whilst sombre, isn’t laden with overmuch grief. The Theme and variations for string trio is a bigger and more comprehensive statement, wittily crafted and, in places, as near jaunty as Lekeu ever gets. The beautiful and unbuttoned Adagio molto espressivo – Lekeu liked Adagios and Andantes – for two violins and piano is played by Koch, Anne Leonardo and Devos, and this third disc also contains the extensive six-movement Beethoven-modelled String Quartet. It’s far too long for the material but has an airy quality that proves appealing.

The fourth disc presents another Wagnerian opus, the Cello Sonata with its 20-minute first movement, a heroic undertaking from Luc Dewez and Devos. The highlight is the slow movement, rapt and intensely expressive. Koch and Devos play the Andante più tosto adagio with taut command. We are also introduced to the orchestral Lekeu in the form of the Introduction symphonique aux Burgraves, a diptych replete with Wagnerianism but also some strong fugal development. The Première Étude symphonique mixes nobility with Beethovenian and Franckian influence with some indigestive results but it does have a youthfully lofty quality with brassy fugatos. The orchestral Fantasie contrapuntique sur un cramignon liégeois offers a joke or two – imitations of fiddles tuning up – but the Seconde Étude symphonique is made of sterner stuff, a powerful exploration in two sections of the characters of Hamlet and Ophelia. The latter is heard in two versions, the second of which was intended to prepare for a third part, which remained unwritten. Both these works were recorded a long time ago on LP, with the same orchestra conducted by Paul Strauss, in dedicated and excellent readings, though sonically inferior to the ones under review.

The sixth disc houses the Piano Trio which is played very well by the Arthur Grumiaux Trio (Koch, Dewez, Devos) – though I harbour a fondness for the performance of the Spiller Trio, which was rather more bristly. It also contains the very Franckian Piano Sonata – it’s rather explicitly patterned after the Prélude, choral and fugue and after the Violin Sonata probably Lekeu’s best-known work, the wonderful and affecting Adagio. The seventh disc is largely orchestral or orchestral-and-vocal. His only work for organ is the Épithalame for organ and orchestra with its imposing Franckisms but equally its moments of lyric introspection. His first piece for large choral forces was the Chant lyrique but Andromède is altogether a bigger test of his compositional arts – a two-part cantata, impressively laid out, full of rousing melancholy and quite some drama. It failed to win a prize for familiarly depressing reasons. The performances are excellent but if you can find Jacques Houtmann’s old LP recording in CD transfer it offers a valuable alternative insight.

I shouldn’t omit mention of several songs sung by Guy De Mey. Lekeu’s only concertante piece heads the last disc, Larghetto for cello and orchestra. It’s rather beautiful but it also makes one regret that unwritten Violin Concerto for his great champion Ysaÿe. If you doubted that Lekeu could write a piece for solo tuba and orchestra, doubt no longer. He did, and it’s here. It’s rather similar to the cello work, but rather more teaky and Wagnerian. The Plainte d’Andromède is the chamber version of a scene from his cantata and very effectively reduced. The Trois pièces for piano are salon-light charmers. The Trois Poèmes, sung by soprano Greta de Reyghere evoke lute songs – the last of the three includes a string quartet as well as the piano. Then there are two versions of the evocative and fresh-faced Fantaisie sur deux airs populaires angevins, one for orchestra and the original, for piano four-hands, played by Dirk Herten and Daniel Blumenthal. Some may recall the bucolic recording of this made by Armin Jordan for Erato which included a superb version of the Adagio.

Given the tragically truncated trajectory of Lekeu’s life it’s not difficult for all his music to fit in an 8-CD set, and that includes things such as the original and orchestral Angevins fantaisie and the chamber version of the Andromède scene. A review like this can only draw attention to a few details but I warmly commend this retrieval, the expanded notes, and Ricercar’s continuing devotion to Lekeu’s music.

 

-- Jonathan Woolf, MusicWeb International

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Guillaume Lekeu (20 January 1870 – 21 January 1894) was a Belgian composer. He studied with César Franck and Vincent d'Indy, and won second prize in the 1891 Belgian Prix de Rome. Lekeu contracted typhoid fever in October 1893 and died in 1894. He composed about 50 works, and left a number of unfinished compositions at the time of his death. His style, prophetic of early-20th-century avant-garde French composers like Satie and Milhaud, was influenced by Franck, Wagner and Beethoven. In general, Lekeu is regarded as a highly talented composer whose death cut short a promising career.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillaume_Lekeu

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