French Flute Chamber Music

Proudly individual French music played with great care and authority

Record and Artist Details

Composer or Director: Albert (Charles Paul Marie) Roussel, Florent Schmitt, Marcel-Lucien Tournier, Jean Françaix, (Henri Constant) Gabriel Pierné

Genre:

Chamber

Label: Naxos

Media Format: CD or Download

Media Runtime: 0

Mastering:

Stereo
DDD

Catalogue Number: 8 570444

Tracks:

Composition Artist Credit
Suite Marcel-Lucien Tournier, Composer
Marcel-Lucien Tournier, Composer
Mirage Quintet
Suite en Rocaille Florent Schmitt, Composer
Florent Schmitt, Composer
Mirage Quintet
Variations, libres et finale (Henri Constant) Gabriel Pierné, Composer
(Henri Constant) Gabriel Pierné, Composer
Mirage Quintet
Quintette Jean Françaix, Composer
Jean Françaix, Composer
Mirage Quintet
Sérénade Albert (Charles Paul Marie) Roussel, Composer
Albert (Charles Paul Marie) Roussel, Composer
Mirage Quintet
Here are five late-19th- and early-20th-century French composers gathered together to illustrate what the booklet-note so rightly calls an “emancipation from Germanic cultural values”. Sharply individual, all five none the less show a “clarity and refinement, brio and wit, and subtle sensuality” that are inimitably Gallic.

They also pay unmistakable tribute to Debussy and Ravel. The influence of Prélude à L’après-midi d’une faune hangs heavily over Tournier’s Suite, most notably in the opening Soir: Calme et expressif. There is an exotic twist to the Lied: Assez lent, avec mélancolie reflecting Debussy’s fascination with the East but it says much for Tournier that he maintains his own voice and character. Florent Schmitt, who studied with Fauré, also shows a fleeting love of the Orient before continuing with a gracefully flowing Minuet and whirlwind finale. Pierné (whose Variations for solo piano were greatly admired by Cortot) sounds a more substantial note with much restrained but demanding virtuosity in his finale, while Françaix closes his characteristically piquant Quintet with a Rondo based on the folksong “Savez-vous planter les choux?” and a touch of outrageousness.

Finally Roussel and a more astringent modernist style, including a flourish from the harp like a sudden cascade of stardust in the central Andante and some ghostly glissandi behind the final Presto’s hyperactivity. All this alternately thoughtful and exuberant music is played with great care and authority by the Mirage Quintet who never mistake a term such as animé for fast. Brilliantly alive to their challenge, they have been well recorded.

Discover the world's largest classical music catalogue with Presto Music. 

Stream on Presto Music | Buy from Presto Music

Gramophone Print

  • Print Edition

From £6.67 / month

Subscribe

Gramophone Digital Club

  • Digital Edition
  • Digital Archive
  • Reviews Database
  • Full website access

From £8.75 / month

Subscribe

                              

If you are a library, university or other organisation that would be interested in an institutional subscription to Gramophone please click here for further information.