Search - Louise Farrenc, Brigitte Engerer, Jean-Frédéric Neuburger :: Louise Farrenc: Musique de chambre

Music Worthy of Revival

J Scott Morrison | Middlebury VT, USA | 09/22/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Louise Farrenc (1804-1875), a member of a Parisian family of artists and intellectuals, displayed musical talent early in her life and became a piano virtuoso making appearances by her mid-teens. She studied composition with Anton Reicha, but had to do so privately since the Paris Conservatoire did not admit female students in the early years of the 19th century. She later became the only female professor at the Conservatoire during the entire 19th century and is probably the only French woman composer to have been generally accepted on equal terms by the male establishment of the time.



This disc derives from a series of concerts in Paris that featured her music and that of her younger contemporary, Robert Schumann, who had extolled the virtues of her music and thus helped her reputation. She had quite a wide audience during her lifetime but her star dimmed rapidly after her death. Her style of composition is rather like a blend of Reicha and Mendelssohn. It is marked by utter clarity of thought and form, coupled with a marked talent for memorable melodies and themes. Although she never set foot in Germany, her music sounds much more Austro-German than French. Included in the disc are two études from her Opus 26 ('Thirty Études in all the Major and Minor Keys'), played nicely here by Jean-Frédéric Neuberger. Étude No. 17 is a torrential moto perpetuo that requires an even touch and extremely clean fingerwork. In some ways it sounds a little like similar pieces by Charles-Valentin Alkan, but without the quirky harmonies. No. 18 is a gentle study in two-hand arpeggiated accompaniment with middle-register melody, reminiscent of a Mendelssohn 'Song Without Words.' The Thirty Études were set pieces for all piano students at the Conservatoire for several decades in the middle part of the 19th-century and yet one never hears them nowadays; as far as I know they have never been recorded in their entirety. Perhaps one day ...



The only other solo piano work recorded here (by distinguished French pianist, Brigitte Engerer) is a rather insipid 'Mélodie' in A Major. It sounds almost as if it had been recorded on a fortepiano, but I suspect that is an aspect of the recorded sound rather than the instrument involved. It is a negligible work. Somewhat more impressive is a set of 'Variations Concertantes' for violin and piano, Op. 20, played by Engerer and Guillaume Sutre.



By far the most important works here are the Nonet for Strings and Winds, Op. 38 and the Piano Trio, Op. 44. The latter exists in two versions, one with violin, one with clarinet. We hear the clarinet version here. A four movement work, it is classical in design, Romantic in thrust, and wholly enjoyable. Probably here we come closest by anything on this disc to the ripe Romanticism of Schumann . It is played by Engerer, Romain Guyot, clarinet, and François Salque, cello. The cello melody in the second movement, Adagio, is haunting. Lovely playing of a lovely work.



Sounding more like her composition teacher, Reicha, is the Nonet for flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, bassoon, violin, viola, cello and contrabass. It begins with a full-bore adagio chorale that sounds downright orchestral. It leads to an energetic Allegro that throws out ideas in great profusion throughout its almost twelve minute length. The working-out here and in the subsequent movements is masterful and wholly satisfying. The work concludes with another Adagio-Allegro that ends the work on an exhilarating note. The nonet thrust its composer into near-celebrity, the more so because the young (but already legendary) violinist Joseph Joachim took part in the 1850 première. One wonders why it is so rarely performed. The nonet has been previously recorded but this is my first encounter with it. It is a gem, and it is played to a fare-thee-well by the assembled French instrumentalists.



Heartily recommended.



TT=74:31



Scott Morrison"

A WELCOME DISCOVERY

GEORGE RANNIE | DENVER, COLORADO United States | 01/30/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Until I purchased this recording, I had not previously heard any of Louise Farrenc's music. This recording of some of her Musique de chambre is delightful in every way. The chamber music on this album is highly "fragrant" French romantic chamber music is very enticing. I particularly enjoyed the pieces for winds and strings opus 38 and the Piano Trio. I found the solo piano pieces, to me, to be mere trifles. However, all-in-all a fine introduction, for me, to a rather unknown composer. (Do read the previous superlative in-depth review for Louise's place in musical history) The sound, performances and presentation of this music by this French label is superb.

If you are into romantic chamber music and of a rather curious nature, buy this disc because I know that you will enjoy it as I did.

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