Search - Andre Caplet, Ensemble Musique Oblique, Sylvie Deguy :: Caplet: Conte fantastique; Setuor; Prières

Caplet fantastique!...

Sébastien Melmoth | Hôtel d'Alsace, PARIS | 02/19/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

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A remarkable disc of very rare material by the short-lived Frenchman André Caplet (1878-1925).



Caplet was from Normandy; won the Prix de Rome (1901); and from 1907, worked closely with Debussy--(himself influenced by Satie)--from whom he learned orchestration and an appreciation of Poe. Caplet was also deeply moved by Ralliement esthetique--the resurgence of interest in Romish mysticial aestheticism of the Fin de Siècle.



Caplet died prematurely due to lung damage from chemical warfare in WW1.



Disc features:



1) Caplet's tone poem for chamber ensemble [string quartet & harp] based on Poe's short story "The Masque of the Red Death," :17mins;



2) "Prayers"--"Lord's Prayer," "Ave Maria," and "Apostles' Creed" for vocalist and SQ w/harp;



3) Divertissements--a la française and a l'espagnole for harp--(strings plucked with nails like a guitar);



4) Two Sonnets by French Renaissance poets Joachim du Bellay and Pierre de Ronsard, for vocalist and harp;



5) Septet for female vocalise and string quartet, :14mins.



TT:55mins.



Wonderful Monet Rouen façade cover-art.



See too:

Debussy: String Quartet; Fauré: String Quartet; Caplet: Conte Fantastique

Les Angélus: French Sacred Music for Soprano and Organ

Caplet: Miroir De Jesus

Caplet: Mélodies

Caplet/Magnard: Wind Quintets

André Caplet: Chamber Music



Also see Pater's purple prose-poetry on du Bellay in The Renaissance: Studies in Art and Poetry (Oxford World's Classics) .

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