Reynaldo HAHN (1874-1947)
Violin Sonata in C major (1926) [20:12]
Soliloque et Forlane for viola and piano (1937) [7:42]
Nocturne in E flat major for violin and piano (1906) [5:30]
Romance in A major for violin and piano (1901) [4:27]
Piano Quartet No.3 in G major (1946) [21:57]
Si mes vers avaient des ailles (1888) transcribed by Hahn for cello and piano
[1:53]
Room-Music (Stephen Coombs (piano); Charles Sewart (violin); Yuko Inoue (viola):
Philip de Groote (cello))
rec. May 2003, Henry Wood Hall, London.
HYPERION HELIOS CDH55379 [61:59] 
Reynaldo Hahn had a big love-in with lyricism. In his chamber music, which
is all too under-performed and indeed unknown, this pervasive quality is sovereign,
even to the exclusion of real sonata combat and contrast. The result in the
Violin sonata is music of such undeniably verdant beauty in its Fauréan ethos
that it would take a heart of blackest stone to resist or reject it. And yet
this 1926 work is so tuneful and easeful, so implicitly rejecting of post-Fauré
developments — this is the Fauré of the 1890s, not the later works — that
one inevitably views it in the light of its looseness of construction, and
its amiability of motifs. This is not to slight a work that seeks nothing
except the promotion of its own sensibility, but it does make for a somewhat
watery twenty minutes in its company.
The only performance I had previously heard of the sonata was the 78 of Denise
Soriano, though Christian Brière and J.P. Millow made an LP recording on Pianissime
which didn’t get very much exposure, though the coupling of works by Fauré,
Debussy, Kreisler and Rachmaninoff was on the money, stylistically speaking.
Charles Sewart and Stephen Coombs made an excellent alliance, balancing well,
and allowing the deft themes to register through limpid phrasing, light bowing
and sensitive chording. The amusingly restless central scherzo balances the
larger outer movements to good effect. The finale has the refined grace of
a chanson, the vocalised tristesse of which is a pleasure to hear in this
performance. The return to the climate of the opening movement is also intelligently
calibrated.
The other big work is the Third Piano Quartet of 1946. Again, the language
is late nineteenth century, which is even more noticeable in a work written
exactly twenty years after the Violin Sonata. The writing is light, agreeable,
charming and reaches a peak of expressive outpouring in the Andante,
though this is watered down via some ineffably Gallic salon grace and charm.
The finale is genuinely effusive.
The ‘fillers’ are all enjoyable once again. The Soliloque et Forlane
for viola and piano has solid Baroque affiliations and a languorous-to-flighty
profile. The much earlier 1906 Nocturne has a fair amount of ingratiating
charm too. Hahn’s own arrangement of his most famous chanson, Si mes vers
avient des ailles, is written for cello and piano.
All these performances, recorded in 2003 and first released on Hyperion
CDA67391 at full price, are hugely convincing. The foursome has the lightness
of touch and the quicksilver quality necessary successfully to project the
more winsome elements inherent in the music. For Fauré disciples — and Hahn
was himself one, stylistically, to the core — this will be an enjoyable acquisition.
Jonathan Woolf
An enjoyable acquisition.