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D'Indy, Saint-Saëns, Chausson - Helmchen, Janowski

D'Indy, Saint-Saëns, Chausson - Helmchen, Janowski

PentaTone Classics  PTC 5186357

Stereo/Multichannel Hybrid

Classical - Orchestral


D'Indy: Symphonie sur un chant montagnard francais (Symphony on a French Mountain Air) Op. 25, Saint-Saëns: Symphony No. 2 in A minor Op. 55, Chausson: Soir de fête

Martin Helmchen (piano)
Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
Marek Janowski (conductor)

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Review by John Miller - November 9, 2011

I suspect that, outside of France, such a concert programme would be a rarity these days. In my concert-going youth, I came across D'Indy's "Symphony On a French Mountain Song" several times and have been looking out for it to appear on SACD. The same goes for Saint-Saëns' Second Symphony; Jean Martinon's disc set of all the symphonies, released by EMI in the early 1970s, brought these fine works to public attention. Sadly, only Symphony 3, with its organ feature, remains in mainstream popularity stakes. So well done to Pentatone and Janowski for putting them with the similarly neglected Chausson for this disc.

There are various links between these three composers, some of which are explored in the booklet. They were contempories and often competitive ones at that - Saint-Saëns and D'Indy were often at loggerheads. French music-making in the latter half of the C19th was a melting pot of different styles, including classicism, romanticism, impressionism and even Wagnerism, with a modicum of nationalism and folk-music collecting thrown in. Some or all of these influences can be found in each of the works programmed on this disc.

Vincent D'Indy was particularly keen to develop his music from folk melodies, collected or imagined. The "Symphonie Sur Un Chant Montagnard Français" of 1886 is a hybrid of piano concerto and symphony, much in the model of Franck's "Variations Symphoniques" of the previous year. Not a concerto as the piano mostly plays within the orchestral texture, so has more of a concertante role. Its virtuosity is mainly in the form of sweeping, swirling passage work in support of orchestral themes. Only rarely, and notably at the outset of the slow second movement, does the pianist have a true solo part. Martin Helmchen seems artist enough to subsume his talent into the general orchestral melée and does so with great aplomb. His tender solo work in the slow movement beautifully fits into D'Indy's impressionistic vista. A minor problem for me in this recording is that the reverberant nature of the Victoria Hall in Geneva tends to subsume the piano sound, particularly at climaxes (and there are some formidable ones in all these pieces), where the brass covers the often spectacular piano writing. If you haven't got a score to hand, you would have little idea what Helmchen was up to until things quieten down. Nonetheless, I'm very happy to reacquaint myself with what is probably the most popular work of D'Indy.

Saint-Saëns' Symphony in A minor hails from his middle period and is classically-based, the shades of Beethoven never being far away. As usual with Saint-Saëns, there are plenty of rattling good tunes on offer, even if one is a fugue subject, and Janowsky's full-throated approach inspires the OSR (who are on fine form) into giving an energetic and often thrilling performance which is at least a match for Martinon's classic one.

Ernest Chausson was something of an oddity in the côterie of late C19th French composers. He was trained as a lawyer (and was from a wealthy and influential family), but after graduation in 1881 he took music lessons from Massenet and Franck, then started to compose in a very independent way. He specialised in free-form music, which was impressionistic in that it relied on orchestral colour and texture rather than structure and melody. "Soir de Fête" is a picaresque portrait of the French penchant for festivals, swirling with anticipation at the outset, sparkling with energy in celebration, and with some nocturnally poetic periods of relaxation. Truly an orchestral spectacular, this is a fitting end to a most enjoyable concert programme.

While all three works are of the kind which are very pleasant while they are happening to you, they admittedly don't linger very long in the memory. Nevertheless, Janokski has disinterred some memories from the past and presented them in vivid surround sound. Well worth considering if you are a fan of C19th French music.

Copyright © 2011 John Miller and HRAudio.net

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