Belle Époque
French Music for Wind
Orsino Ensemble
Pavel Kolesnikov (piano - Yamaha CFX, Serial no. 6390900)
rec. July 11-13, 2020, Henry Wood Hall, London.
Download of the 24-bit, 96KHz surround (five-channel) flac file from Chandos.net
CHANDOS CHSA5282 SACD
[79:24]
This album was already discussed in May by my colleague, Stuart Sillitoe.
Although Stuart reviewed the SACD incarnation of this recording, it seems
he was dealing with the stereo layer, while I’ll be writing about the
surround incarnation. This review appears a bit later than I originally
expected because I undertook a substantial overhaul to my audio system and
my attached computer system, which took a bit of time to “normalize”, as it
were.
Although I’ve read some reviews by listeners interested in this album from
a wind-playing point of view, I specifically requested it for
review because I’ve been so overwhelmed by the playing of pianist Pavel
Kolesnikov on his past recordings, especially in such titles as his Louis
Couperin recital and the Bach Goldberg Variations, both on the Hyperion
label. In my view, Kolesnikov has a genius for lightening up and clarifying
the textures of the music he plays to an uncommon (almost unworldly)
degree, and I was eager to hear what he might do in a collaborative musical
relationship with the wonderful players of the Orsino Ensemble.
I had not heard the Roussel Divertissement before, and was delighted to
make its acquaintance — this is one happy sounding piece! It’s also the
only work on this album in which the entire Orsino Ensemble plays at the
same time, and it’s a real display vehicle for the wind players, while the
piano participates in proceedings, as Roger Nichols observes in the booklet
notes, “almost entirely to provide a harmonic cushion”, although it does
get a couple of melodic fragments from time to time, and even a
well-behaved mini glissando near the beginning. (The very opening requires
the two hands of the piano part to be placed in a rather awkward position
relative to each other — Roussel was not a pianist!) Throughout the
performance, the balance among the players is impeccable (as it is
throughout the entire recording), and the wind players dovetail their
exchanges superbly.
The two Debussy works for clarinet and piano were both composed as
conservatory test pieces, with the short Petite Pièce intended to show the
player’s sight-reading ability. Nichols writes that the work’s “dotted rhythms
must never degenerate into triplets”. However, that’s exactly what happens
in the last three bars of this performance — and I don’t mind it at all.
Debussy marks this section “Un peu retenu”, and I think you have to allow
the clarinetist some freedom of expression here. Overall, Matthew Hunt
performs superbly, and I also welcome his hints of subtle vibrato which
also enhance the expressive dimensions of this performance. Well done!
Hunt’s subtle vibrato is also to be heard, again to excellent effect, in
the much more substantial Première Rhapsody. Although I’d guess that most
listeners would prefer to hear this work in its orchestral guise, I’m truly
impressed at the arresting nuances which Kolesnikov coaxes from his
beautiful sounding Yamaha instrument. The only parts I could bring myself
to criticize here might be a couple of instances where I thought Kolesnikov
could have been more assertive, even though the balance for the most part
is once again exemplary. And Hunt surmounts all the “awe and terror”
(Nichols again) of the clarinet writing with the kind of panache which
disguises just how difficult it all is. Both players succeed in conveying
the full dynamic range of the work.
Saint-Saëns’ Romance for Horn and Piano derives its aria-like atmosphere
from its origins as a movement from the composer’s Suite for Cello and
Piano, where that instrument sings with operatic fervor. But the horn can
do so too, and Alec Frank-Gimmell presents the work as euphoniously as I
can imagine — a gratifying experience! The same composer’s Caprice sur des
airs danois et russes (the two nationalities belonging to Tsarina Maria
Fedorovna, who was born in Denmark) alternates folk tunes, one from each
country, and each with a set of variations, some of which are nothing short
of dazzling, with the flurries of notes generating some hugely entertaining
kinetic energy. I fail to understand how any listener could not be won over
by the high spirits and virtuoso display of this work! The performance here
certainly generates all the sparks one could wish for, especially on the
part of the piano (Kolesnikov) and the flute (Adam Walker).
With the Chaminade Concertino, we’re once again dealing with a work which
has an orchestrated alternative to the piano part. But here again,
Kolesnikov’s piano work is so full of color and nuance that one hardly
misses the presence of an orchestra. (Incidentally, the origin of both
versions has given rise to conflicting histories, with one source I checked
indicating that Chaminade made the orchestral version first, and then made
a piano reduction, while most sources report that the piano version was
produced first, with the work later orchestrated for a London concert
featuring soloist Marguerite de Forest Anderson, a friend of the composer.)
This ubiquitous work has become the bane of aspiring flutists everywhere,
and they could hardly do better than to model their playing after Adam
Walker’s faultless performance here, with its wide-ranging dynamics and
appealing tonal variations in the contrasting sections.
The Koechlin Nocturnes constitute the “something completely different”
portion of the program on this album, in the sense that they brood within a
seeming darkness, rather than emote within the relative light of the other
works. Walker and Frank-Gemmill again prove outstanding in conveying the
serious moods of the two pieces, which, while substantial and worthwhile
within their limited time span, were published for the first time only as
recently as 1989!
In terms of timing, the most substantial work on the album is Caplet’s Wind
and Piano Quintet. Like George Butterworth and so many others of note,
Caplet had his life tragically shortened by World War I, where he was
exposed to poison gas while fighting in the trenches and died from the
complications a few years later. Although the playing in this work is just
as outstanding as on the rest of the program, I have to differ with my
colleague, Stuart, in finding the Quintet itself, with its neoclassical
gestures (which he rightly points out) just a little disappointing. I hear
some of its sections as just a bit conventional or even veering toward the
academic. However, this comment certainly does not apply to the brief
Scherzo, which has all the breeziness and wit of the best French music. And
do I detect a phrase or two of some Dorian-mode action here? My ears are
telling me I did, but the score is unfortunately not available on IMSLP, so I can’t confirm
it.
The program finishes with Debussy’s celebrated “Syrinx” for solo flute.
Almost any flutist who was anybody left a record of what he or she could do
with this evocative work, with its fullness of possibilities for dynamic
subtleties and tone color changes, not to mention sheer beauty of sound.
Just thinking of some of the better-known recordings (Pahud, Galway,
Rampal, Nicolet, Baker, Larrieu, and many others) makes one reflect on how
high the individual accomplishments of Walker’s predecessors actually have
been. Even artists who are not quite as well known (such as Philippe
Bernold on a Harmonia Mundi recording) have achieved spectacularly fine
results. Nevertheless, Walker’s playing is thoroughly worthy of comparisons
to such distinguished company, and his variegated performance, in terms of
the dynamics, color and subtle rhythmic inflection, is a worthy addition to
the other great recordings I’ve mentioned here — a satisfying ending to a
captivating and very generous CD-length program. (I checked with Walker’s
management, and the contact there kindly informed me that he plays a Powell
flute.)
One thing I almost always enjoy with multi-channel recordings like this one
is how “liquid” the sound seems in my listening room. Engineer and editor
Jonathan Cooper has done an outstanding job of conveying what I imagine to
be the fine acoustics of London’s Henry Wood Hall and recreating it in the
home listening space. I’ve already mentioned the luxuriant tonal gamut
created by each of these players, and this quality would be much less
noticeable were the engineering any less worthy. Bravo!
Overall, this is a magnificently played program of works which contrast
with each other in so many interesting ways, and it also benefits from the
accustomed expertise of the Chandos recording team, especially in its
multi-channel incarnation.
Chris Salocks
Previous review:
Stuart Sillitoe
Albert ROUSSEL (1869–1937)
Divertissement for Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon, Horn, and Piano Op 6
(1906) [6:59]
Claude DEBUSSY (1862–1918)
Petite Pièce for Clarinet and Piano (1910) [1:29]
Première Rhapsodie for Clarinet and Piano (1909-10) [8:20]
Camille SAINT-SAËNS (1835–1921)
Romance in F for Horn and Piano Op 36 (1874) [3:41]
Caprice sur des airs danois et russes for Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, and Piano
Op 79 (1887) [11:36]
Cécile CHAMINADE (1857–1944)
Concertino for Flute with Piano Accompaniment Op 107 (1902) [8:29]
Charles KOECHLIN (1867-1950)
Deux Nocturnes for Horn, Flute, and Piano Op 32bis (1897-98, revised 1907,
1912) [6:37]
I Venise. Andante con moto – Tranquillo
[3:10]
II Dans la forêt. Adagio [3:27]
André CAPLET (1878-1925)
Quintet in B minor for Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon, and Piano Op 8
(1898) [27:33]
I Allegro. Allegro brillamente - Un poco più lento - Tempo I - Un poco
più lento - A tempo - Un poco più lento
–
[8:35]
II Adagio. Adagio - Un poco più animato - A tempo
[7:26]
III Scherzo. Très vif - Trio - Da capo
[3:52]
IV Finale. Allegro con fuoco - A tempo con fuoco
[7:48]
Claude DEBUSSY
Syrinx
('La Flûte de Pan') for Solo Flute (1913) [3:38]
Originally incidental music to the play Psyché
Orsino Ensemble
Adam Walker (flute)
Nicholas Daniel (oboe)
Matthew Hunt (clarinet)
Amy Harman (bassoon)
Alec Frank-Gemmill (horn)
with
Pavel Kolesnikov (piano)
