Although Chausson has been critically maligned, his glory in both Opp. 21 and 30 shines through every possible defect. True, his idiosyncrasy is nearly drowned by the influence of his teacher Cesar Franck and particularly of Franck’s Piano Quintet, and his unusual combination of instruments in his Op. 21 Concert creates problems (the violins can get in each other’s way). Yet given an ideally balanced and executed performance it is difficult not to succumb to what has been aptly called Chausson’s “refined and voluptuous melancholy”, to a richness and complexity that can engulf the senses. But the question of texture remains tricky and I am not convinced that it has been adequately solved in this new Dutch-based recording. This is, after all, a concerto and to hear the excellent Pascal Devoyon reduced to a background level, to shrinking violet proportions when he should be heard blazing the composer’s passion and intricacy to the heavens, is unfortunate. The situation improves when the music is more despairing than heated, in the Grave with its heavy fall of raindrops or tears and the haunting descent at 4'27'' where the music sinks down in a seemingly endless autumn spiral. But in the finale the sound once more lacks a proper focus and definition. Philippe Graffin suffers less than Devoyon and he is notably refined in the moins forte and moins forte hairpin decrescendo close to the very Faurean Sicilienne, though even here he is surely too recessed.
The same failings apply to the Piano Quartet, music where Chausson steps into the light, though not forgetting his more customary and darker eloquence. The carillon, un peu plus vite, which closes the finale comes closer to the necessary sense of homecoming but, again, the overall effect is insufficiently exultant. So although this record has rarity value I would suggest that those primarily interested in the Concert turn to Jean-Yves Thibaudet and Joshua Bell with their urgently propulsive finale on Decca; sadly the admirably clear and vigorous Jean-Philippe Collard and Augustin Dumay on EMI (3/87) is not currently available. Specialists will, of course, not forget Cortot’s and Thibaud’s incomparably fervent 1931 account, most suitably coupled with the Franck Quintet on Biddulph.'