French Elegance

Record 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

Media Format: CD or Download

Media Runtime: 67

Mastering:

DDD

Catalogue Number: KTC1550

KTC1550. French Elegance

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
This disc is aptly titled. In terms of their playing, Belgians Roeland Hendrikx and Liebrecht Vanbeckevoort tackle standards of the French clarinet repertoire with the utmost elegance. Saint-Saëns’s 1921 Sonata was a real throwback to the 19th century but is a work of considerable charm, suiting the warm tone of Hendrikx’s Yamaha clarinet. The approach to the first movement is far too relaxed for an Allegretto but clean articulation impresses in the perky Allegro animato, and the showpiece finale, with its rippling scales and arpeggios, is a delight.

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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