Emile Jaques-Dalcroze (1865-1950)
Works for Violoncello and Piano
Morceaux (3) op.48 (1902)
Rythmes delaissés (4) (1924)
Suite (4) op.9 (1891)
Trois (3) Esquisses (1907)
Pi-Chin Chien (cello)
Bernhard Parz (piano)
rec. 2021, SRF Radio, Switzerland
TYXART TXA22167 [42]
There’s a place for amiable music (Bridge, Tchaikovsky, Popper, Saint-Saëns, Fauré) and here it is the cello that is favoured. This goes to show that, other things being equal, not every disc has to shoulder the heroic and the grand. We know Swiss composer and Eurhythmics advocate, Emile Jaques-Dalcroze for his orchestral music. Sterling did a great deal for this composer, as did Guild and Toccata. The present disc dallies with the less dizzy musical foothills but also engages with flashes of animation.
There’s no heaven-clawing sonata here - such were seemingly not a concern of Jaques-Dalcroze. Instead, we can revel in four multi-movement collections. Each possesses an easy, civilised, silver-spun line and here has playing that is at one with that line. For the Morceaux there’s a nice equipoise of melody and determination especially in Lied Romantique (1) which ends with a flurry of display and yearning. The Serenade is a skilled oblation with a dash of Spanishry about it. The Bagatelle stiffens the sinews and is well characterised and caringly defined. The four Rythmes delaissés encompass a rather d’Indy-like Chantant et bien rhythme (a gentle village dance with bit of romance), a Commodément which is animated and engaging, a sauntering Allegretto Comodo with the dotted equivalent of glottal stops before a Calment animé radiating character and fun.
The Suite has an Allegro ma non troppo which oozes charm, an Andantino espressivo in which the composer pushes the cellist, a little dreamer of an Allegretto con moto played as if through half-hooded eyes and a barnstormer of a Vivace. We end, all too soon, with Trois esquisses. The Allegretto vivace is very brief. There’s a sweet, rounded and nicely balanced Andante cantabile before a playfully “rum-ti-tum” Allegretto scherzando which, surprisingly, ends with a peaceful, quiet note.
Cellist Pi-Chin Chien is at the centre of the audio image and at all times, with the active and decorous bright-work of Bernhard Parz, makes the most of what the composer has to offer.
The disc booklet is most handsomely designed and very well documented by Walter Labhart in English¸ French and German. That said, close on 42 minutes playing time is a regret and an expensive one.
Rob Barnett
