This recording is one of a series of more than a dozen recordings on the
Azur label, supported by the
Centre International Albert Roussel,
dedicated to instrumental, chamber and vocal music of Roussel and his
contemporaries. The Centre also promotes an annual festival in north-western
France and Belgium. If one needed another reason to visit Normandy, this
sounds like a compelling one. I was made aware of the series through a
review by Hubert Culot of the third volume of chamber works
by Emile Goué. With a number of world premiere piano trios among the
releases, I took the plunge.
Some biographical information about René de Castéra would seem
appropriate, as I imagine the number of readers familiar with him is rather
small. This, and the first volume, may be the only recordings of his music
readily available: Arkivmusic, Presto Classical and MDT have no listings for
him at all. He was born in Dax, in the Landes Department in south-western
France. He attended the Paris Conservatoire, and then was among the first
students at Schola Cantorum, where he was a pupil of Albeniz and d’Indy.
Composition seems to have been just one of his many activities. He was
Secretary of the Schola, a music publisher and critic, as well being part of
the artistic and social elite in pre-war Paris. He fought in the battle of
Notre-Dame-de-Lorette, and afterwards, spent time driving an army truck,
like Ravel. The booklet notes are sketchy on his life post-war, but it seems
that after a financial crisis in the family, he returned to his native
Landes, living in a villa named Pax, on the coast at Hossegor, cultivating
an artistic life in the local area, away from a very changed Paris.
The Trio received considerable plaudits from the critics and fellow
musicians, such as Alfred Cortot and d’Indy. It is a very substantial piece,
the first movement over 14 minutes, and I have already encountered in
my
survey of piano trios instances of lesser composers creating large
structures with very flimsy materials. I’m pleased to report that this is
not one of those instances. The first movement overflows with ideas,
dominated by two themes, the first a serenely beautiful one, the other
upbeat and jolly. A Basque dance is used in the scherzo-like Divertissement
second movement. The slow movement, while perhaps a little long, is
beautifully nostalgic, and in the best Franckian style, the final movement
returns to the themes from the earlier movements, though I would say it is
the least effective of the four. Castéra did revise the work a few years
later, trimming seventy bars from the first movement, as well as replacing
the third movement entirely. The revised version appears in Volume 1, which
I certainly will be buying.
Chamber music including wind instruments is not among my favourite
listening, and I bought this CD mainly for the trio. In this era of
downloading, it can be tempting to simply not include an “unwanted” track or
work in the purchase. I didn’t buy this as a download anyway, but if I had
missed out on this delightful work, I would have been much the poorer for
it. It begins with the piano playing what I can only describe as a cocktail
bar melody, with the other instruments joining one after the other over a
few minutes. The opening movement (Paysage) is predominantly gentle and
reflective, interspersed with a few jaunty episodes led by the flute. It is
an evocation of the pine forest and lakes of the region in which he was
born. Initial sketches for the work were written in the trenches of the
Western front, which given its overall genial mood, is remarkable. Before I
listened to this, I had formed the impression that wind-dominated chamber
music tended to be light, fluffy, “burbly” and limited in emotional range.
How wrong I was.
The Sicilienne was the result of a request by a cellist at the Schola,
Edwige Bergeron – she became a professor there, and d’Indy dedicated his
cello sonata to her. The work is melancholic, shot through with a glorious
melody.
I initially assumed that these recordings were made at the Festival, given
the “Collection du Festival Albert-Roussel” banner on the booklet, but as
you can see from the details above, that is not the case. A “studio”
recording is certainly a bonus, as the ability to do retakes with such
unfamiliar material must surely be valuable. The sound quality is a little
recessed, but not to the extent where it becomes a problem. The performers
put their hearts and souls into this music, and the result is a resounding
success. Cellist Magill and violinist Darvarova have recorded two
well-received CDs of chamber works by Franco Alfano on Naxos (
Cello sonata & trio ~~
Violin sonata & quintet).
Availability of this series is somewhat patchy, and it definitely pays to
shop around. AmazonUK has priced them from about £12 to over £21 (this is
one of the cheaper ones), and given they are all single CDs, this seems a
trifle odd, to say the least. I bought mine from CDBaby, where they were all
$US15, and to reduce postage, there was the option, which I opted for, of
having the jewel case removed, and the CD placed in a paper sleeve. There is
also the download option for $US10, and while the booklet itself isn’t
supplied, the full notes are available on the respective pages.
Being a collector of the unsung usually means listening to pleasant but
unmemorable music. Only rarely does one uncover a gem such as that which has
been unearthed here. While this isn’t brand new – it was released in 2013 –
I cannot do other than make it a
Recording of the Month, and expect
it to be among my
Records of the Year.
David Barker
