Paul DUKAS (1865-1935)
Complete Piano Music
L’Apprenti Sorcier (1897) [10.57]
Piano Sonata (1900) [45.52]
Variations, Interlude et Finale sur un theme de Rameau (1901-2) [17.14]
Prélude élégiaque sur le nom de Haydn (1909) [3.50]
La Plainte, au loin, du Faune (1920) [4.21]
Allegro pour monsieur S.Koussewitzky (1925) [1.00]
Le Tombeau de Paul Dukas (1936)
Florent SCHMITT (1870-1958)
Tombeau de Paul Dukas [4.45]
Manuel de FALLA (1876-1946)
Pour le Tombeau de Paul Dukas [2.49]
Gabriel PIERNÉ (1863-1937)
Prélude sur le nom de Paul Dukas [2.21]
Guy ROPARTZ (1864-1955)
À la mémoire de Paul Dukas [2.56]
Joaquín RODRIGO (1901-1999)
Hommage à Paul Dukas [3.54]
Julian KREIN (1913-1996)
Pièce à la mémoire de Paul Dukas [3.12]
Olivier MESSIAEN (1908-1992)
Pièce pour le Tombeau de Paul Dukas [2.02]
Tony AUBIN (1907-1981)
Hommage à Paul Dukas [4.26]
Elsa BARRAINE (1910-1999)
Hommage à Paul Dukas [2.17]
Marco Rapetti (piano); Riccardo Risaliti (piano) (Sorcier)
rec. 29-31 July 2010, Villa Vespucci, San Felice e Ema, Florence (Steinway
Piano D-274)
BRILLIANT CLASSICS 9160 [57:13 + 55:14]
17 May 2011, by coincidence the day I first put this CD into the my machine,
was the 76th anniversary of the death of Dukas. The Times, in their
column entitled ‘What we said’, reprinted part of their obituary
to Dukas, and I quote “His most important work is the Symphony in C”
but it does acknowledge, in this era before Walt Disney’s Fantasia
I that he “is known chiefly for his orchestral scherzo L’Apprenti
Sorcier’. It is this piece, in its guise as a virtuoso piano piece,
which opens CD 1.
Dukas’s piano music does not quite make up a double CD so Brilliant
Classics have included Le Tombeau de Paul Dukas written by his friends
and pupils in the months immediately following his death. There are eight
pieces in all by the well known and the now forgotten.
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice was brilliantly transcribed
by Dukas himself and in the hands of Rapetti and Risaliti sounds orchestral.
It’s amazing how much detail is audible that one knows from the orchestral
score. Rarely does a composer have such consistent inspiration as exemplified
in this work. This is the first time the two piano version has been recorded.
It really should be in the regular repertoire.
The remaining forty or so minutes of CD 1 is devoted to the towering Piano
Sonata.It is in four movements with a Scherzo placed third. I can’t
think of another French sonata quite like it from this period. Marco Rapetti
understands it and presents it ideally and confidently, emphasising its expressive
qualities as well as its power. It is even longer than Dukas’s only
Symphony in the key of C. Although there are several, no doubt, very fine
recordings of this work in the catalogue - for instance that by Marc-André
Hamelin on Hyperion CDA 67513 - I am not proposing to do a comparison. For
me this was practically the first time I had been able really to come to terms
with the work.
The emotional impact that the sonata imparts has never been underestimated
especially in the heart-breaking first movement, which seems in search of
a tonality, which it never successfully achieves. The second movement marked
‘Calme, un peu lent’ is dreamlike, haunted by the ghosts of and
cross-references to, as the booklet tells us “Beethoven, Liszt, Franck,
Saint-Säens (to whom it is dedicated and who wanted to add a second pianist
to the entire work to make it less virtuoso) and Vincent d’Indy. Debussy
- who greatly admired the piece - at the same time was writing his ‘Pour
le Piano’ and the third movement Scherzo of this sonata may seem to
conjure up parts of Ravel’s ‘Jeux d’eau’ from the
same year. That said, Dukas has an almost atonal idea for the middle Trio
section. The finale is marked Très lent-Animé and begins
with heavy, sonorous chords before breaking into a rippling arpeggio figure.
Perhaps the music is offering consolation within its seriousness. The powerful
chords take priority and there are deep moments of mystery and uncertainty
including a dark almost-melody in the depths of the piano before the Animé
section begins. To me Ernest Chausson is recalled here - he had died only
a year or so before. Dukas indulges in sequential writing and immediate repetition
of certain phrases as he ratchets up the tension. At times one wonders if
the movement might have been a little shorter. On the whole though the balance
of ideas including a wonderful melody which appears after about five minutes
seems to be just right. Rapetti achieves wonders in bring out the moods and
ideas in a seemingly ideal flow of passion and virtuosity which lofts the
movement and the sonata to their glorious climax.
CD 2 starts with another homage to Beethoven although not openly so. The Variations,
Interlude and Finale on the Rameau theme - a simple Minuet
- emerged from a period when Dukas was involved in editing of the older composer’s
harpsichord works. He believed Rameau to be an especially outstanding figure
as yet little recognized. As such therefore it can be considered a neo-classical
work rather ahead of its time. The variations depart alarmingly from the original
and are often romantic and passionate. Only the rather stiff tenth with its
dotted rhythms has a baroque feel. After the eleventh variation Dukas places
a slightly dreamy Interlude before embarking on the longest variation, number
twelve, which is itself a series of variations. So, an intriguing work and
one much admired apparently by Alban Berg according to Marco Rapetti’s
detailed and fascinating booklet notes. These also include a usefu essay about
the composer and about each piece. He dwells in some detail on ‘Le Tombeau’;
more of that soon.
After Rameau comes Haydn. 1909 was the centenary of his death and Dukas, along
with five others including Ravel and Debussy each contributed a brief piano
piece. Dukas’s work Prélude élégiaque is,
perhaps surprisingly in the light of what has gone before, impressionist;
yet he was a close friend of Debussy for most of his life. They played duets
together and Dukas was beside Debussy’s deathbed. La Plainte, au
loin, du Faune is a real Tombeau to Debussy encapsulating the language
and even quoting, at the end, the famous opening of ‘Prélude
l’après midi d’un faune’ now sounding despondent
and lost. The other little piece, and very little it is, is a sort of orchestrated
fanfare - I imagine trumpets and percussion - which constitutes the Allegro
pour Monsieur S.Koussewitzky. It was written for a grand reception
in honour of Koussevitsky and premiered by Alfred Cortot. It was never heard
again and was thought lost. Rapetti in his notes thanks Mme. Rolande Welllhoff,
Dukas’ grandniece for helping to locate the manuscript.
Perhaps he felt his own creative urges fading and so poured himself into teaching,
study and encouragement of young musicians. He was on the staff of the Paris
Conservatoire from about 1909 until retiring in 1928. On his death the magazine
La Revue Musicale published in 1936 various piano tributes from his
pupils and his immediate contemporaries. All nine are recorded here and a
fascinating kaleidoscope of styles they make. I was much taken by Florent
Schmitt’s Tombeau with its gently oscillating pedal bass note
under a dreamy impressionist but chordal melody - so very French. Falla’scontribution,
Pour le Tombeau de Paul Dukas is rather solemn and stodgy but another
Spaniard Rodrigo manages to write a perfect miniature rising to a dissonant
climax over what is often a very Spanish ostinato-type lament. The pieces
by Gabriel Pierné his sombre Prélude sur le nom de Paul Dukas
and Guy Ropartz with his reflective À la mémoire de Paul
Dukas are each based on the musical letters of his name, the first more
melodically the second more chordally.
The little-known Lithuanian pupil of Dukas, Julian Krein is represented by
an almost Gershwinesque Pièce à la mémoire de Paul
Dukas which, like another Parisian Tony Aubin’s impressionistically
entitled Le Sommeil d’Iskender is rather romantic and emotional.
In contrast Messiaen’s Pièce pour le Tombeau de Paul Dukas
is typically cerebral and using one of his modes of limited transposition
is thoroughly Messiaen, as it were. Perhaps Dukas would have approved.
The piece which ends the CD is by a composer new to me, Elsa Barraine who
was also Parisian and taught there at the Conservatoire. Her ‘Hommage’
is short and, I’m sorry to say, the least interesting of this collection
but good to have available.
So this is a really useful collection. It’s played with commitment and
intensity and at an entirely reasonable price. Worth searching out.
Gary Higginson
A really useful collection played with commitment and intensity and at an
entirely reasonable price. Worth searching out.