Leo SMIT (1900-1943)
Trio for flute, viola and harp (1928) [14:52]
Quintet for violin viola, cello, flute and harp (1928) [21:10]
Alexander TANSMAN (1897-1986)
Alla Pollaca [1:57]
Suite pour Trio d’anches (1949) [9:58]
Sonatina da Camera, for violin, viola, cello, flute and harp [14:44]
Trois Pièces, for harp, clarinet and string quartet (1970) [8:57]
Rachel Talitman (harp); Michael Guttman (violin); Pierre-Henry Xuereb (viola):
Manfred Stilz (cello); Marcos Fregnani-Martins (flute): Jean-Luc Votano (clarinet);
Trio Abocalips (Jean-Luc Votano (clarinet), Sébastien Guedj (oboe); Joanie
Carlier (bassoon))
Quartet Ardente (Ales Ulrich and Audrey Gallez (violins); Sarah Charlier (viola);
Olivier Vanderschaeghe (cello))
rec. 2010
HARP & COMPANY CD-5050-21 [72:42]
These near contemporaries share a gravitational pull – actual and stylistic
in Smit’s case - toward Paris. Both were Jews, Smit being Dutch of Portuguese
descent and Tansman, very much the better known, Polish.
Smit moved to Paris in 1927. He returned to Amsterdam a decade later but in
1943 he was transported to Sobibor where he was killed shortly after arrival.
His Trio for flute, viola and harp dates from 1928 and is a single movement
of changing moods, a refined nocturnal leading on to little, almost military
calls, and then ensuing Ravelian hues. Smit ensures that colours and textures
change, so that there are little soloistic moments, rich arpeggios for the
harp and a warmly textured slow section. The Quintet dates from around the
same time. Again it’s almost explicitly devoted to Ravel’s methodology in
texture and mood, though it does tend to the more crepuscular. Cleverly it
gathers pace, then slackens, trading on an evocative sense of timbre and colour
more than the actual distinction of the melody lines themselves.
Tansman is represented by a quartet of pieces of varying dimensions. His Alla
Pollaca is enjoyable and slight, lasting barely two minutes. More substantial
is the Suite, which has been accorded several recordings. This work for wind
trio (1949) is a perky, Stravinskian affair with a wistful neo-baroque Aria
and a bubbly bassoon-led finale cross-pollinated by the chatter of the oboe
and clarinet; all reconciled very adeptly, and quietly. It’s a fine work,
characterful and clean. The Sonatina da Camera for violin, viola, cello, flute
and harp is a lissom work that embraces a delicate nocturnal and is stamped,
as was Smit, by Ravel’s mark. There’s considerable, rapt simplicity, as well
as some high spirits, unleashed in the Finale (mistakenly tracked 13 on the
jewel box – beware, it’s 12). Once again things are clear, clean, with a Gallic
ethos meeting the rhythmic pungency of Stravinsky. Finally we have the Trois
Pièces, for harp, clarinet and string quartet, written in 1970. The first
is languorous and leisurely, whilst the second could go a touch faster than
it does in this performance. The final piece opens with a brief but effective
Lento section, and then launches off into affirmative dynamism.
There have been a number of recordings of the Tansman pieces, but Smit has
been much less well represented on disc. The performances here are generally
fine – though sometimes things could be etched with a degree more animation.
The layout of booklet and box is a bit of a mess, but you should certainly
be prepared to overlook that if in pursuit of this repertoire.
Jonathan Woolf
These near contemporaries share a gravitational pull toward Paris.