The focus of this reissued disc is the French clarinettist
Louis Cahuzac (1880-1960). I’ve reviewed some of this eminent
musician’s recordings on the Guild label, as I have a disc on
Clarinet
Classics which presents all-Cahuzac works. In this last case Philippe
Cuper was a pupil of a pupil of Cahuzac, but Phaia’s reissue of
a 2003 recording is played by Guy Dangain, a first generation pupil
who took classes with Cahuzac and performed in an orchestra conducted
by him.
Cahuzac’s music is richly Mediterranean and beautifully written
for the clarinet, as one would expect, and possesses a strikingly atmospheric
quality. Dangain responds to the challenges of the
Fantaisie sur
un vieil air champêtre with veiled sensitivity. He shapes
the faster and slower sections of this tripartite character study with
great assurance. His tone is not as wide or as romantically warmed as
Cuper’s in that competing Clarinet Classics disc, and of the two
it’s Cuper who’s the more extrovert and declamatory. Dangain’s
aesthetic is less knowing than Cuper’s; and its supple, less sophisticated
take is plainer and by no means as showy. Both clarinettists explore
the music with valid responses, and some will feel that Dangain’s
less obviously glamorous tonal qualities suit the music’s limpidity
the more affectingly. That may well be the case in
Pastorale cévenole
as it might also be in the joyful
Cantilène where Dangain’s
clarity and astute phrasing mean that he avoids Cuper’s bumpy
snatching of breath. Both men approach the music’s manifold roulades
with great enjoyment. The recordings faithfully mirror the tonal qualities:
a rather cool acoustic for Dangain and a much warmer, indeed balmier
one for Cuper. How you respond to the two performances of the lovely
Variations sur un air Pays d’Oc largely depends on your
preferences in tonal matters.
Dangain doesn’t give us an all-Cahuzac recital, as he adds favourite
pieces played by his eminent predecessor. These include Pierné’s
Canzonetta and the technical
tour de force that is Alamiro
Giamperi’s
Il Carnivale di Venezia. It’s good to
hear the two charmers by Paul Jeanjean, a well selected and contrasting
pair that explore refined lyricism as well as Gallic flair. Dangain
contributes his own captivating
Ballade à Ophélie
and the recital ends with a confident and technically accomplished performance
of Rimsky’s
Le Coq d’Or.
It was an astute move to restore this recital, not least in the light
of the continuing restoration of Cahuzac’s own recorded legacy.
Jonathan Woolf
