Devy Erlih (1928-2012), whose recent death in a street car
accident saddened so many admirers, was a violinists’ violinist,
and something of a whispered secret amongst LP collectors. He
was also a fine musician, and an equally influential teacher.
Almost immediately after his first prize-winning experience
at the Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud competition in 1955 he
was courted by recording companies. Ducretet-Thomson had the
inspired idea to tape him in Ropartz’s 1907 Violin Sonata, which
I am sure had never before been recorded. It hasn’t had that
many outings since, it must be said. It was coupled on LP with
a lovely reading of the Prélude, Marine, Chanson for
flute, violin, viola, cello and harp, played by that excellent
ensemble led by, and named after, harpist Pierre Jamet. This
is what Forgotten Records has restored, and bravo for that.
The sonata is a slightly odd one, but for those sympathetic
to Ropartz’s idiom, it proves delightful. The opening piano
statements lead one to expect a violinistic outburst akin to
that in Vitali’s Chaconne, but whilst something of
the baroque shade hangs over parts of the sonata it’s in no
way a pastiche-drenched work. The piano’s rich chording is a
notable feature, so too a Franckian inheritance and Erlih and
his commanding colleague Maurice Bureau respond with verve and
comparable passion. Given that the harmonies in the slow movement
are so beautiful, and offer such rich opportunities for tonal
expressivity, it’s surprising that more fiddlers haven’t taken
up this work. Given, too, the chances for folksy declamation
in the finale, and one has a winning balance on one’s hands.
Erlih responds with youthful charm and warmth and a deal of
refinement, and the duo winds down toward the final paragraph
with wonderfully calibrated assurance. Maybe duos shy away from
this quiet ending, as soloists do from the similarly sunset-glow
finale of the Delius Violin Concerto. A mistake, I think. This
is a lovely work, one that will reward the sympathetic performer,
and the inquisitive listener.
Written over two decades later, the Prélude, Marine, Chanson
is firmly in Debussy’s lineage but it has a succinct and diaphanous
beauty that makes it a very good disc mate for the Sonata. The
clarity of the writing, and its suggestive lyricism, is conveyed
with tactile engagement by the first class ensemble led by harpist
Pierre Jamet. On no account, though, overlook the warm-toned
contributions of the violist Georges Blanpain, not least in
the Chanson.
With an excellently engineered transfer, this is clearly another
winner from this fascinating label.
Jonathan Woolf
Devy Erlih (violin): Maurice Bureau (piano)