French Elegance
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: (Amedée-)Ernest Chausson, Philippe Gaubert, Charles-Marie(-Jean-Albert) Widor, Francis Poulenc, Claude Debussy, Camille Saint-Saëns
Genre:
Chamber
Label: Etcetera
Magazine Review Date: 11/2016
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 67
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: KTC1550
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Andante et Allegro |
(Amedée-)Ernest Chausson, Composer
(Amedée-)Ernest Chausson, Composer Liebrecht Vanbeckevoort, Piano Roeland Hendrikx, Clarinet |
Petite pièce |
Claude Debussy, Composer
Claude Debussy, Composer Liebrecht Vanbeckevoort, Piano Roeland Hendrikx, Clarinet |
Rhapsody for clarinet & piano (or orchestra), L. 116 'Première rapsodie' |
Claude Debussy, Composer
Claude Debussy, Composer Liebrecht Vanbeckevoort, Piano Roeland Hendrikx, Clarinet |
Fantaisie for clarinet and piano |
Philippe Gaubert, Composer
Liebrecht Vanbeckevoort, Piano Philippe Gaubert, Composer Roeland Hendrikx, Clarinet |
Sonata for Clarinet and Piano |
Camille Saint-Saëns, Composer
Camille Saint-Saëns, Composer Liebrecht Vanbeckevoort, Piano Roeland Hendrikx, Clarinet |
Introduction et Rondo |
Charles-Marie(-Jean-Albert) Widor, Composer
Charles-Marie(-Jean-Albert) Widor, Composer Liebrecht Vanbeckevoort, Piano Roeland Hendrikx, Clarinet |
Author: Mark Pullinger
Composed barely 40 years later, Francis Poulenc’s Clarinet Sonata is a very different beast – pungent, witty and melancholic. Hendrikx performs it decently, with secure top notes, but a greater contrast is required between both moods and dynamics. Michael Collins, who included the Saint-Saëns and Poulenc sonatas in Vol 1 of ‘The Lyrical Clarinet’ for Chandos, instils more character – and differentiation – into the works, and in much finer sound. The St Truiden venue is quite resonant and Hendrikx isn’t always balanced favourably against Vanbeckevoort’s Steinway. This backward placement is also an issue in Debussy’s Première Rhapsodie, which is a little one-dimensional in terms of drama.
The disc includes a few welcome rarities. Chausson’s Andante and Allegro (included by Collins on a later disc) deserves to be better known, the technical challenges well met. Widor’s Introduction and Rondo is of minimal interest but Philippe Gaubert’s Fantaisie is a real winner (and not to be confused with his Fantaisie for flute). Better known as a flautist, Gaubert also taught clarinet at the Paris Conservatoire. Hendrikx and Vanbeckevoort balance its virtuosity with good taste in a lovely rendition.
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