Search - Gustave Samazeuilh, Stephane Lemelin :: Gustave Samazeuilh

An Impressionistic Find

S. A. Schweitzer | Avon, Ohio USA | 12/13/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Pianist Stephane Lemelin renders a convincing musical portraiture of French composer Gustave Samazeuilh (1877-1967). Several pianistic works reveal sturdy, uncompromising French musical affinities which definitiely bring to mind the works of Debussy and Ravel, particularly the former. I myself am an ardent admirer of this aesthetic which blossomed and flourished during the first two decades of the twentieth century. Occasionally there are soft reminders of Florent Schmidt and Cesar Franck, with occasional hints of Scriabin buried in the 1910 Nocturne "Naiades au Soir". The six works presented here include: "Le Chant de la Mer"; "Suite en Sol"; "Trois Petites Inventions"; "Esquisses"; and "Evocation." Samazeuilh apparently was well known among his contemporaries and had a strong friendship with the likes of Franck, Duparc, D'Indy, and Dukas, among others. I admit I haven't listened to these works long enough nor intently enough to to offer a lengthy, sustained critical or technical review. Suffice to say, almost all the works recorded here are derivative of the late French romantics and early pre-modernist composers. Again, Debussy comes to mind, and there are exist many paralels and significant resemblaces between the Master and his derivative Samazeuilh. Like Schmidt, Maurice Emmanuel, or the Austrian Romantic/Impressionist Joseph Marx, Samazeuilh was well known and acknowledged in his own era; but like so many other composers whose works were relatively unknown in our time, Samazeuilh's works are finally made accessible to the general public of today,courtesy of several obliging CD recorders. Stephane Lemelin gives a convincing and magical performance and intrepretation. Recommeded for those who have a longing to hear and to appreciate musically impressionistic nuances.



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