Search - Chausson, Dutoit, Roge :: Chausson: Symphony; Concert; Poèmes; Piano Quartet [Australia]

The Best of Chausson in a Convenient Package

Jeffery A. Triggs | New Jersey | 05/11/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This excellent, two-CD set (the first devoted to orchestral music and the second to chamber works), contains many of the best works of the delightful French composer, Ernest Chausson, in a convenient, low-priced package.



Chausson spent most of his tragically short career in the artistic shadow of his teacher, César Franck. In 1899 he was really just coming into his own when he was accidentally killed at the age of 44. Franck, of course, was famous for composing a single masterfully archetypal work in various genres: one symphony, one violin sonata, one piano quintet, etc., and one might jest that composers like Chausson merely wrote down what might have been the later "Franck" symphonies, but similarities of design and tone aside, that would not be fair to Chausson's beautiful symphony, which is very much his own. Though it makes use of the Franck symphonic structure - three movements with recurring, contrapuntally interwoven thematic material, often referred to as "cyclical form", rich chromatic harmonies, and an orchestral texture owing something to Wagner - Chausson's symphony is marked by a lyrical refinement foreshadowing the works of the impressionists. A masterful composition, it reminds me at times as much of Delius as of Franck. Lyrical refinement also describes Chausson's most famous work, the Poème pour violin et orchestre written for his friend, the Belgian violinist Eugène Ysaÿe. (The list of Chausson's friends, by the way, reads like a who's who of the artistic world of Paris in the 1880's and 1890's.) The first CD is rounded off by another luscious work, an orchestral song cycle called Poème de l'amour et de la mer. My chief complaint is that in the otherwise informative companion booklet to the CDs, the texts of the poems of the cycle are not included.



The second CD is devoted to two disarmingly subtle chamber works of considerable mastery: the Piano Quartet in A, considered by some Chausson's best complete chamber work, and the so called Concert for the rather odd combination of violin, piano, and string quartet, still probably Chausson's most popular chamber work. The first has a subtle tone reminiscent of similar works by Debussy, Fauré, and Ravel. The Concert has sometimes been described as Wagnerian, and indeed it does reveal a more full-bodied romanticism, but it is charmingly Chaussonian nonetheless.



It would be hard to fault the performers here. Charles Dutoit and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra are in their element with this music, as are the violinist Chantal Juillet and baritone Francois Le Roux. The Richards Piano Quartet does a fine job with the quartet and for the Concert violinist Pierre Amoyal and pianist Pascal Rogé join the Quatuor Ysaÿe in a splendid performance.



I highly recommend this CD package for anyone wishing to get acquainted (or re-acquainted) with the music of Chausson. You will not be disappointed with this one."