Paul LACOMBE (1837-1927)
Piano Trio No 1 in G, Op 12 (1871) [24:52]
Piano Trio No 2 in E, Op 90 (1898) [29:21]
Piano Trio No 3 in A, Op 134 (1908) [19:49]
Méditation pour violon et piano, Op 124 (1906) [3:46]
Victor Sangiorgio (piano); Sergey Levitin (violin); Josephine Knight (cello)
rec. November 2020, St George’s Headstone, Harrow, UK
First Recordings
Hybrid SACD Multi-channel / Stereo
DUTTON EPOCH CDLX7388 SACD [77:51]
The opening sentence of the accompanying brochure informs us that French composer, Paul Lacombe, was referred to as a ‘forgotten figure’, even during his lifetime. Furthermore, a Paris critic, writing about one of Lacombe’s Trios, described him as a musician ‘who tastes the joys, perhaps bitter, of a provincial life of perfect tranquillity and obscurity’.
Paul Lacombe was born in Carcassonne – a town located in the south of France about fifty miles east of Toulouse – into a wealthy family of linen merchants. His first music lessons were given by his mother at the piano, and he later studied the usual regime of fugue, harmony, counterpoint, and voice under François Teysseyre, an ex-student of the Paris Conservatoire, and who had set up the first music school in Lacombe’s home town, in 1851.
Lacombe was an admirer of the music of Georges Bizet, particularly his opera ‘The Pearl Fishers’, and, in 1866, began a correspondence with Bizet, asking him to help with his own efforts at composing. Bizet accepted, and for two years, from 1866 to 1868, advice and corrections were exchanged by post, rather like a correspondence course. In fact, a real friendship developed between the two as Bizet realized the sheer enthusiasm of his student.
In 1871, Lacombe was a founding member of the Société Nationale de Musique, while Bizet promoted his student’s music among his Parisian peers, and was responsible for a performance of Lacombe’s Violin Sonata, Op 8, by Pablo de Sarasate and Élie-Miriam Delaborde. Following a particularly successful Study for quartet, Lacombe was encouraged by his mentor to write a symphonic work, which resulted in his Ouverture symphonique, Op 22, and which was premiered in 1876. Sadly Bizet never got to hear the performance because of his untimely death the previous year. Lacombe went on to write Suite pastorale, Op 31 (1878), and two prizewinning symphonies.
Picking up on what the critic said at the start of this review, although Lacombe’s music was well-appreciated among fellow-composers and musicians, it never gained widespread popularity, as he was unwilling to leave Carcassonne for Paris, almost 400 miles due north.
Yet, for all this, he was still quite a prolific composer with more than 150 works, though his only significant popular success came in 1890 with the Aubade printanière, Op 37. In addition to symphonic works, Lacombe composed a large volume of piano music, concertante works, chamber music and some 120 songs, many of which still remain in manuscript. In 1901, Lacombe was appointed under the sponsorship of Camille Saint-Saëns to the Académie des Beaux-Arts, who awarded him the Prix Chartier for his chamber music in 1887. He was made a Chevalier of the Légion d’honneur in 1902, and died in his home town, some twenty-five years later.
His compositional style essentially embraces a classical sense of form and melody, though with a nod towards Impressionism in his later works. His music is thus amiable and appealing, and shows solid craftsmanship, but without any particular feeling of true originality.
The Piano Trio No 1 dates from 1871, and opens with a very business-like Allegro moderato, which shows the composer as confident and quite resourceful, with a disciplined approach to contrapuntal writing. Bizet apparently detected ‘strong echoes’ of Schumann and Beethoven in the first movement, while recognising that there are also fingerprints of Lacombe’s own emerging style, albeit somewhat embryotic at this juncture. The second movement – Allegretto – is a charming, delicate little number, which stands in place of a Scherzo proper. Its constantly-changing time signature is both puzzling, yet bewitchingly individual.
While I didn’t wholly concur with Bizet’s ‘Schumann and Beethoven’ links, the extended chordal piano theme at the start of the third movement, marked Lento, immediately made me think more of Mendelssohn, both in terms of melodic line and the sugary-sweet harmonic support witnessed in the early part of the movement. If the opening has a decided ‘religioso’ feel about it, Lacombe significantly cranks up the passion and emotion in his writing, eventually producing a real little gem that could so easily find its way into the repertoire as a stand-alone Lento. The Allegro Spiritoso finale relies on a lively little theme which makes considerable use of octave leaps and dotted rhythms. Schumann’s name is again suggested as a possible influence, but, unlike the ghost of Mendelssohn in the Lento, again I find the ‘Schumann link’ still somewhat tenuous, and I certainly encountered a few more ‘Mendelssohn moments’, especially towards the end. Either way, I very much enjoyed the style of the finale, and feel that, had the opening movement not felt somewhat slightly pedantic at times, the Trio itself could hold its own with other contemporary works in the genre.
Dating from 1898, Trio No 2’s basic design looks promising, since it now cast in five movements. It opens with an Andantino tranquillo, where the cello sings an expressive melody, accompanied by quiet chords from the piano. Those twenty-six years that separate the first trio from the second have certainly witnessed a development in the composer’s style, both in terms of melodic and rhythmic freedom, and in a more refined harmonic palette that looks more towards Fauré for its inspiration. This is followed by an Allegro non troppo, ma con fuoco¸ an undulating, passionate movement often caught between major and minor tonalities, almost in the manner of a perpetuum mobile, though interspersed with short moments of calm, despite the overall sense of impending urgency. The modulations are also more inventive, and the skill with which Lacombe writes for, and combines his instruments, is most impressive. It culminates in an exciting end, with which Fauré or Saint-Saëns would no doubt have been very pleased.
The next movement is an Intermezzo, marked Allegretto grazioso – a sophisticated piece of salon music cast in waltz-time, which closes with a quaint piano arpeggio of the added 6th. The middle section involves significantly deeper harmonic colouring, with the kind of extended-seventh chords that individually wouldn’t sound significantly out of place in Wagner’s Tristan Prelude. The salon style of the opening returns, to round off this equally individual and attractive little number. Continuing in much the same vein, the next movement – Andante – opens with some yet-to-be-heard sonorities, revolving mainly around sustained, rhythmic piano chords, over which the strings later add their own mellifluous descants, all of which lead to a highly-emotional climax before arriving at the once-more peaceful close. The finale, marked Allegro molto, shows just how much Lacombe’s style, and all-round musical maturity have developed since the first trio. For not only has there been a noticeable leap forward in musical ideas per se, but, there is such a wide and diverse range of sonorities and textures now. There is also a rising awareness of cyclic elements where, for example, there are some charming references to the opening theme from the trio’s first movement.
Lacombe’s Third Piano Trio was composed in 1908, and, following on from where the previous trio left off, it is clear to see further advances especially where his harmonic style is involved. Specifically there is now a more modal feel to the writing, a more consistent use of flattened-seventh chords, although, given his longevity, were there to have been a fourth trio, he would still not be embracing the more modernist leanings of Debussy and Ravel. The Second Trio looked towards Saint-Saëns for its main inspiration, and the Third represents the culmination of this. After a lyrical and unhurried first movement, marked Modéré – Poco tranquillo, the slow movement (Lento molto espressivo) is really touching in its simple sincerity, and heartfelt melodies – Lacombe has really moved on from his earlier quasi-Mendelssohnian examples. In every respect, it’s another little gem that really deserves a wider audience.
The modally-flavoured Allegretto functions as a Scherzo, and again there is some most attractive writing and interplay between the instruments, yet all compressed into just over two minutes. The Allegro finale opens with a robust, march-like theme where, as often seems to be the case in his trios, Lacombe seems to favour the cello first, when things start getting lyrical. There isn’t a really massive build up towards the close, and while it is still effective, there is no suggestion of drawing the ending out, for mere effect alone. Lacombe seems to be at his very best in lyrical movements of essentially free form, rather than in those where he is somewhat constrained by the need to respect a more rigorous formal design.
The CD ends with another late work, first published in 1906, Lacombe’s Méditation for violin and piano. It once more confirms the composer’s innate gift for lyrical melody as arguably the strongest asset in his musical armoury.
There’s always the question of whether to introduce yet another composer to the general public, and this, surely, often has to be determined by whether said composer not only has something original to say, but also demonstrates discernible evidence of further musical development.
In the case of Paul Lacombe, I feel that Dutton really deserves our congratulations for recording some of his music, since, to the best of my knowledge, the only currently-available CD of his music. There is a clear sense of direction throughout, and while the opening movement of his First Piano Trio shows him more at the learning stage, despite being in his mid-thirties at the time, the rest of the CD is definitely well-worth discovering, and adding to the repertoire. It is on a par with that of some of his far-more-eminent contemporaries, and I am confident that, had he relocated to Paris, things might have turned out quite differently.
The performances are first-rate, whether solo, or part of an especially taut and well-drilled ensemble, all of which is very much enhanced by the particular tonal richness and warmth of British cellist, Josephine Knight.
Despite auditioning this SACD Hybrid disc on a regular CD player, I still found that the highly-commendable vivid recording quality captured the individual players’ performances with great fidelity, where an enhanced sense of stereo placement exerts a very positive effect on textural clarity. The booklet – in English only – is also helpful and informative, making this a really attractive and persuasive addition to any collection, especially for those like me, who have a real penchant for the Romantic Piano Trios, and can never get my fill of them.
Philip R Buttall
