Albert Roussel 1869–1937 CD1 1. 2. 3.
67’14
Piano Trio in E flat major Op.2 I. Modéré, sans lenteur – Très animé 9’05 II. Lent 8’16 III. Très lent – Vif et gaiement 11’15
4. Divertissement Op.6, for wind quintet and piano Animé – Lent - Animé 6’38 5. 6. 7.
Sonata No.1 in D minor for Piano and Violin Op.11 I. Lent – Très animé – Lent II. Assez animé – Très lent – Assez animé III. Très animé – très modéré – Très animé
12’22 10’21 9’54
Jet Röling piano Jean-Jacques Kantorow violin Herre-Jan Stegenga cello Paul Verheij flute Hans Roerade oboe Frank van den Brink clarinet Herman Jeurissen horn Jos de Lange bassoon CD2 1. Impromptu Op.21, for harp solo 2. 3. 2
Duex poems de Ronsard Op.26, for flute and soprano I. Rossignol, mon mignon II. Ciel, aer et vens
4. 5. 6. 7.
Joueurs de flûte Op.27, for flute and piano I. Pan 3’08 II. Tityre 1’07 III. Krishna 3’12 IV. M. de la Péjaudie 2’00
Sonata No.2 Op.28, for piano and violin 8. I. Allegro con moto 4’49 9. II. Andante 5’04 10. III. Presto 4’22 11. Segovia Op.29, for guitar Sérénade Op.30, for flute, string trio and harp 12. I. Allegro 13. II. Andante 14. III. Presto
4’15 7’22 4’18
15. Duo for bassoon and double bass
4’16
16. Aria No.2, for oboe and piano
2’22
6’59
Irene Maessen soprano Paul Verheij flute Hans Roerade oboe Jos de Lange bassoon Jet Röling piano Erika Waardenburg harp Jan Goudswaard guitar Jean-Jacques Kantorow violin Quirijn van Regteren Altena double bass
4’32 3’33
Members of the Schönberg Quartet: Janneke van der Meer violin Henk Guittart viola Viola de Hoog cello
64’56
3’17
CD3
66’47
1. 2. 3.
Trio Op.40, for flute, viola and cello I. Allegro grazioso II. Andante III. Allegro non troppo
4’48 5’17 4’15
4. 5. 6. 7.
String Quartet Op.45 I. Allegro II. Adagio III. Allegro vivo IV. Allegro moderato
4’04 6’45 2’58 6’32
8. Andante and Scherzo Op.51, for flute and piano
4’57
9. Pipe for piccolo and piano
1’06
String Trio Op.58 10. I. Allegro moderato 11. II. Adagio 12. III. Allegro con spirit
3’40 7’31 2’52
17. Andante from an unfinished Wind Trio for oboe, clarinet and bassoon – Adagio
3’22
Paul Verheij flute Hans Roerade oboe Frank van den Brink clarinet Jos de Lange bassoon Jet Röling piano Herre-Jan Stegenga cello Schönberg Quartet: Janneke van der Meer violin Wim de Jong violin Henk Guittart viola Viola de Hoog cello
Music from Elpénor, Poéme radiophonique Op.59 for flute and string quartet 13. I. Prélude Lent – Très animé 3’51 14. II. Modéré 1’32 15. III. Lent 2’38 16. IV. Très animé 0’29
Recording: April, June & December 1994, Old Catholic Church, Delft, The Netherlands Producer: Theo Muller Recording engineer: Peter Nicholls Licensed from Olympia Compact Discs, UK 2013 Brilliant Classics
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Albert Roussel Fluctuat nec Mergitur Albert Roussel might have adopted this proud motto as his own, not only because it can be found on the coat of arms of Paris where he lived for so many years, but also because it depicts a vessel which does not sink in spite of rough seas – and Roussel’s original profession had been that of a naval officer. (Another composer with the same background was Rimsky-Korsakov). Roussel’s route to fame was a long one, and he had the bad luck of being somewhat unjustly overshadowed by his contemporary Maurice Ravel. Born in 1869 and orphaned at an early age, he did not receive his first piano lessons until he was eleven. After leaving school he joined the Marines’ College in Brest, but as a naval officer he could only apply himself to music in his spare moments and on holiday. He later became the captain of the torpedo boat Styx, which he took into Indochina. upon his return in 1894, the director of a local conservatory advised him to devote himself entirely to music. He then began to study composition in Paris, where his teachers included Vincent d’Indy. His achievements were impressive, and in 1902 he was entrusted to teach a composition class himself; among his pupils were Edgar Varèse, Erik Satie and Bohuslav Martinû. In 1904 – when he was thirty-five – his first orchestral work, Résurrection, was premiered. He never tried to become an epigone of the Impressionists, and later remarked: ‘Impressionism seduced me; my music was bound –perhaps excessively- to external means, to picturesque methods which, as I later judged, robbed it of part of its specific truth. I then decided [---] to approach the concept of music desired and achieved by itself’. He reached the zenith of his own creativity with his best-known work, the ballet Bacchus et Ariane which was first performed in 1931; the Suite No.2 drawn from his ballet also enjoyed great success in the concert hall. Roussel, who was a very charming man, was brought up in a strictly disciplined environment, but he always took pleasure in making experiments. He was one of the leading lights (for a time also jury member) of the International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM). During the nineteenth century, the amount of chamber music written in France was pitifully small, but around the dawn of the new century came the beginnings of a renaissance. The Piano Trio in E flat major Op.2 (1902), was Roussel’s first attempt at a genre in which he was to excel. (In French the work is entitled Premier Trio (First Trio), even though his two subsequent trios were written for other instrumental combinations.) The work was composed under the critical gaze of Vincent d’Indy, and in it he was not yet fully able to display his personal style; despite this, it does not lack a certain individuality of tone, especially in its expressive harmonies. The Divertissement Op.6, composed in 1906, is scored for wind quintet plus piano. Since the Trio, Roussel had made considerable progress along the way to an individual musical style – especially in terms of the more daring harmonies and less regular rhythmic patterns. Structurally, this single-movement work is a rondo, with rather free reprises. The opening of the Sonata for Piano and Violin in D minor Op.11 (composed in 1907-08 and 4
revised by the composer in 1931) is more than slightly reminiscent of César Franck, but as the work progresses it reveals an increasing degree of independence. Of its three movements, the first is in sonata form, the second is a scherzo framing a slow central section, whilst the finale is brilliant and lifeaffirming. It is striking that the work is described as a sonata for ‘piano and violin’, and not the other way round; in this way Roussel, like many other composers before him, wished to emphasize that the instruments are of equal importance. After these works came a period of more than a decade during which Roussel devoted himself primarily to orchestral music and the opera Padmâvatî. Not until 1919 did he turn again to chamber music. The second CD in this set focuses on the chamber music from his years of maturity: all the works on it were written within the ten-year period 1919-28. The Impromptu for Harp Op.21 (1919), Roussel’s only piece for solo harp, was dedicated to the harpist Lily Laskine, who made a valuable contribution to the renaissance of the harp as a solo instrument. Roussel’s keen interest in oriental music left traces both in the melodies and in the introverted atmosphere. The Duex poems de Ronsard Op.26, were composed in 1924. The first piece was written for a special edition of the Revue Musicale to mark the 400th anniversary of Pierre de Ronsard’s birth; Rissignol, mon mignon (My Sweet Nightingale) depicts the contrast between the nightingale who is happily in love and the unfortunate youth; in the last bars there is the slightly ironic revelation that the object of the youth’s desires blocks her ears to avoid having to listen to his songs… The second poem is an earnest entreaty to Ciel, oer, et vens (Sky, Air and Wind) to pass on a message of farewell. The same year saw the composition of the Joueurs de flute Op.27 (Flute Players), four portraits of mythical figures. The Greek shepherd god Pan plays a quasi-improvised melody; the name of the second piece, Tytyre, refers to one of the shepherds from Virgil’s Bucolica, with a joyful, lively flute. Krishna is the Hindu god who played the flute in his youth, and Monsieur de Ia Péjaudie is the hero of the novel La Pécheresse (1920) by Henri de Régnier, bringing us securely back to the twenthieth century. Roussel’s Sonata No.2 for Piano and Violin Op.28, was also composed in 1924. It is remarkable for its dramatic opening movement in sonata form, which is followed by a melodious Andante and a dance-like rondo. Segovia Op.29 is a technically difficult piece with a Spanish flavour; it was first performed in the year it was written, 1925, by its dedicatee, Andrés Segovia. In 1925 Roussel completed the Sérénade Op.30 for flute, harp, violin, viola and cello – he was never afraid of unconventional instrumental combinations. The work’s three movements range from the carefree first movement to the fascinating rhythmic chordal writing of the finale; in between, the unusual scoring lends an unusual atmosphere to the second movement. The famous conductor Sergei Koussevitzky (1874-1951) was an outstanding double bass virtuoso, a fact which Albert Roussel bore in mind when he decided to compose a little piece to congratulate him on being made a member at the Legion d’honneur. The Duo for Bassoon ans Double Bass is a charming musical joke for two bass instruments. 5
The third CD contains chamber music from Roussel’s last years. In 1929 he composed his Second Trio in just two weeks, in response to a comiision from the American patron of music, Mrs. Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge. The trio was premiered during a series of concerts which she organized in Prague – and, with its unusual combination of flute, viola and cello, it sounds like the work of a member of Les Six, although formally the movements have a classical construction. The String Quartet in D major Op.45 is Roussel’s only work in this genre, composed in 1931-32. It is also his only major chamber piece to have four movements – although, as was his custom, each movement is extremely concentrated. The first movement is in sonata form; the second is an expressive Adagio; the scherzo is waltz-like and in the finale a fugue features prominently. The Andante and Scherzo Op.51 (1934) was Roussel’s last work for the flute, an instrument of which he was especially fond; here it is accompanied by piano. The oriental colours of the Andante contrast with the playful and spirited Scherzo. Roussel wrote the Pipe in D major as a contribution to a series of pieces for shepherd’s pipe or recorder intended for teaching purposes. The title is in English because the patron of the publication was an Australian lady. This unassuming piece sounds like an attractive melody for children. Roussel’s Third Trio Op.58, which is in A minor and scored for violin, viola and cello, was completed a few weeks before his death in 1937. A first movement in strict sonata form is followed by an Adagio which, if only for reason of its length, is the weightiest movement in the entire trio; the musicologist Harry Halbreich has even described it as the summit of Roussel’s chamber music output – perhaps even of his entire oeuvre. The finale is actually a scherzo, and its brevity gives rise to the suspicion that Roussel had originally planned a four-movement work and only turned the scherzo into a finale after being struck down by fatal illness. Elpenor was a friend of Odysseus; he was turned into a sow by Circe and then changed back again. Shortly before his death, Roussel wished to compose something for performance on the radio, and he asked the poet Joseph Weterings for spoken dialogues for four short pieces of music. Roussel died before bringing the project to fruition, however, whereupon Weterings decided to turn to mythology. The result was Elpénor Op.59, although nowadays this music is almost always performed without the text. The Trio for Oboe, Clarinet and Bassoon comes from the same period of the year 1937. No traces of a first movement exist (he may not even have started work on it) and the finale was left unfinished (though it was completed by the aforementioned composer Arthur Hoérée), and so only the second movement, Adagio, was fully composed by Roussel. This music is harmonious both in the psychological and in the musical sense of the word. © 2006 Per Skans
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Deux Poèmes de Ronsard / Two Ronsard Poems My Sweet Nightingale Rossignol, mon mignon My sweet nightingale who, in this willow tree, Rossignol mon mignon, qui dans cette saulaie Flies freely from branch to branch Vas seul de branche en branche a ton gré voletant And sings, like me as I go singing Et chantes a I’envi de moi qui vais chantant About the beloved who is always on my lips. Celle qu’il faut toujours que dans la bouche j’aie, Both of us sigh: your sweet voice tries Nous soupirons tous deux : Ta douce voix s’essaie To relate the pain of one who so loves you, De sonner l’amitié d’une qui t’aime tant, Whilst I sadly lament the beauty Et moi, triste, je vais la beauté regrettant That wounded my heart so sorely. Qui m’a fait dans le coeur une si aigre plaie. Nevertheless, o nightingale, we differ in one respect: Toutefois Rossignol, nous différons d’un point, You are loved, and I am not loved at all. C’est que tu es aimé, et je ne le suis point. Even though we both have similar music, Bien que tous deus aions les musiques pareilles For you soothe your beloved with your sweet sounds Car tu fléchis t’amie au dous bruit de tes sons, But mine, who is offended by my songs, Mais la mienne, qui prent à dépit mes chansons Blocks her ears so she will not hear them. Pour ne les escouter se bouche les oreilles. Ciel, Aer et Vens Ciel, aer et vens, plains et mons decouvers Tertres fourchus et forêts verdoïantes Rivages tors et sources ondoïantes Taillis rasés et vous bocages verts ; Antres moussus à demi front ouvers, Prés, boutons, fleurs et herbes rousoïantes Coutans vineus et plages blondoïantes Gâtine, Loir, et vous mes tristes vers : Puis qu’au partir, rongé de soin et d’Ire A ce bel il, l’Adieu je n’ai sceu dire, Qui près et lion me détient en émoi ; Je vous suppli, Ciel, aer, vens, mons at plaines Taillis, forêts, rivages et fontaines, Antres, prés, fleurs, dites-le lui pour moi.
Sky, Air and Wind Sky, air and wind, plains and bare mountains, Hewn hills and lush forests. Curving shores and flowing springs, Cut-back woodland and green groves, Moss-grown caves, half-covered or green, Meadows, flower-buds, flowers and reddish grass, Vineyards and gold-coloured beaches, Gâtine, Loir, and you, my sad fields: Because when departing, is the woe of care and anger I could not say farewell to that sweet expression Who keeps me in turmoil, near and far; I implore you: Sky, air, winds, mountains and plains, Woodlands, forests, shores and fountains, Caves, meadows, flowers: tell her for me.
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