Joseph Jongen - Mélodies pour soprano et quintette avec piano (Claire Lefilliâtre; Oxalys)

Information

Composer: Joseph Jongen

1. Chanson roumaine, Op. 25
2. Parfum exotique, Op. 29
3. Quand ton sourire me surprit, Op. 29
4. Tableau gothique, Op. 29
5. Que dans les cieux, Op. 45
6. Les cadrans, Op. 45
7. Calmes, aux quais déserts, Op. 54
8. Les pauvres, Op. 64
9. Épiphanie des exilés, Op. 57
10. Sur la grève, Op. 57
11. Release, Op. 57
12. La musique, Op. 135

Claire Lefilliâtre, soprano

Oxalys

Shirly Laub, violin

Frédéric d'Ursel, violin

Elisabeth Smalt, viola

Amy Norrington, cello

Jean-Claude Vanden Eynden, piano

Date: 2017

Label: Musique en Wallonie

https://www.musiwall.uliege.be/product/joseph-jongen-2/

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Review

The MEW recording of Jongen's songs or Mélodies for soprano with piano quintet is a first. Although he wrote mostly instrumental music, MEW say that Jongen had a high regard for vocal music and that he left some thirty songs, mainly with piano accompaniment. In some cases there are up to three versions, with accompaniment by piano, string quartet, piano quintet or full orchestra.

Oxalys, who gave us some of the chamber music on Passacaille, now accompanies soprano Claire Lefilliâtre in a dozen Jongen songs on Musique en Wallonie. The label's look and feel has held firm so their discs are instantly recognisable. Their choices over the years have been inspiring and at each level the enquiring mind is rewarded and encouraged. Performance values are good, recording quality excels, book design is agreeable and their essays informative. The one for this disc is by Olivia Wahnon de L'Oliveira and is in French, English, Flemish and German. The words are set out in their sung language and in side-by-side translation into English, Flemish and German. The booklet suffers from no design eccentricities and everything you are likely to want is there in the right place and easily legible. The book package, which also holds the disc, is decorated with photos, letters, concert bills and score covers. These plunge you deep into Jongen's world. The whole thing has scholarly roots but is accessible and even enthusiastic. The song texts set by Jongen are, so far as the more familiar names are concerned, by Hélène Vacaresco (see Bax's Bard of the Dimbovitza), Baudelaire, Samain, Verhaeren and De Regnier. There is usually a downside and here it is that the playing time (45 minutes) is short.

Jongen's songs - at least these for voice and a discreetly supportive piano quintet - date from 1902 to 1920 with a single example from 1948. There are other Jongen songs and some of these are with orchestra as we know from a Cyprès collection in 2003. The talented Lefilliâtre brings dreamy exaltation to these songs. Chanson roumaine starts with a lovely trickling vocalise but soon gives wings and surge to Hélène Vacaresco's words. Parfum exotique positively glistens and drips pearly ecstasy. Quand ton sourire me surprit and Tableau gothique have more introspection and reserve. Que dans les cieux has a quiet yet springy lilt. Les cadrans is haunted with a chilly yet irresistibly lethargic edge. Calmes, aux quais déserts plays directly to this soprano's dreamy strengths although she also encompasses its high operatic moments as well. Les pauvres has a tellingly sentimental accompaniment and again floats along effortlessly on the singer's exalted tone. Epiphanie des Exilés is launched with a downbeat sing-song theme before a bass-emphatic tolling figure buoys up Lefilliâtre's line. An emotive nostalgia takes a loose yet warm grip. Henri de Régnier's words to Sur la grève again invite and receive a sleepy response and a warmly caressed closure. Release sets words by Georges Jean-Aubry in a dreamy haze. La musique is a very late setting and it is remarkable that Jongen dialled back three decades, with never a seam showing, to his style of 1917.

This is an engaging collection of Jongen active in the luxurious realms of songs for voice and a lushly rendered piano quintet.

-- Rob Barnett, MusicWeb International

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Joseph Jongen (14 December 1873 – 12 July 1953) was a Belgian organist, composer, and music educator. From his teens to his seventies Jongen composed a great deal, including symphonies, concertos, chamber music and songs. In 1897, he won the Belgian Prix de Rome, which allowed him to travel to Italy, Germany and France. His list of opus numbers eventually reached 241, but he destroyed a good many pieces. His monumental Symphonie Concertante of 1926 is considered by many to be among the greatest works ever written for organ and orchestra, being championed and recorded by numerous eminent organists.

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

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Claire Lefilliâtre is a French soprano specialising in Baroque music repertoire.

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

https://www.millertheatre.com/explore/bios/claire-lefilliatre

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Oxalys is a chamber music ensemble that was founded in 1993 at the Brussels Conservatory.

https://www.oxalys.be/en/oxalys

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