MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger


 REVIEW


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 

alternatively
CD: Crotchet


Fauré and his circle
Camille SAINT-SAËNS (1835-1921)
Romance, op.37 (1871) [6:27]
Airs de ballet d’Ascanio (1890) [4:09]
Gabriel FAURÉ (1845-1924)
Fantaisie, op.79 (1898) [5:11]
Morceau de lecture (1898) [1:37]
Vocalise-Étude (1906/1907) [2:57]
Interlude from Pelléas et Mélisande (1898) [1:13]
Charles KOECHLIN (1867-1950)
Deux Nocturnes, op.32bis (1897/1899 rev. 1907 & 1912) [5:37]
Florent SCHMITT (1870-1958)
Scherzo-Pastorale, op.17 (1889 rev 1912) [4:13]
Maurice RAVEL (1875-1937)
Piece en forme de habanera (1907) [2:58]
Georges ENESCO (1881-1955)
Cantabile and Presto (1904) [5:50]
Alfredo CASELLA (1883-1947)
Sicilienne et burlesque, op.23 (1914) [9:05]
Lili BOULANGER (1893-1918)
Nocturne (1911) [2:55]
Maurice DURUFLÉ (1902-1986)
Prélude, récitative et variations (1928) [13:12]
Kathryn Thomas (flute), Richard Bayliss (horn), Lawrence Power (viola), Richard Shaw (piano)
rec. Leighton Park School, Reading. No date given. DDD
DEUX-ELLES DXL1125 [65:30]
Experience Classicsonline

This is a very interesting, and very enjoyable, collection of French miniatures written within a forty year period between 1889 and 1928. In general the music is for the drawing room and for family entertainment, plus a couple of test-pieces for the annual Paris Conservatoire examinations. 

Saint-Saëns’s Romance and the flute dances from his opera Ascanio make a delightful start, and set the tone for what is to follow. The former is real music for home consumption, and none the worse for that, and the dances from the opera were designed to give Paul Taffanel, the French flautist of the time, a showpiece, which they did and during a performance they had to be repeated!

Fauré’s Fantaisie and the Morceau de lecture, together with Enesco’s Cantabile and Presto and Casella’s Sicilienne et burlesque, were created for the Paris Conservatoire exams. The Morceau was written to be used as a sight-reading exercise. The three exam works are each in two parts, the first slow and the second fast. Despite their origins they are real pieces of music deserving of a place in the concert hall; certainly they transcend the usual fare of examination pieces. Fauré’s Vocalise-Étude, like Ravel’s Piece en forme de habanera, was written as a wordless song but it has been appropriated for many different instruments. Because of the “singing” nature of the music it fits woodwind instruments especially well.

Koechlin’s Deux Nocturnes, for flute, horn and piano, are quite dark and not a little disturbed. Schmitt’s Scherzo-Pastorale is more pastoral than scherzo; it’s in a medium tempo and is a delightfully playful thing. There is precious little music by Lili Boulanger, for she died too young, so this new recording of the delectable Nocturne is most welcome.

The biggest, and very satisfying, work here if Duruflé’s Prélude, récitative et variations for flute, viola and piano. It’s a very serious work, but, despite the mellow and rich sound of the viola, the music never becomes dark even though there are some searching moments, and there’s lots of interplay between the instruments. This is a real find.

The recording is excellent, crisp and clear with a good balance between the players. On the other hand, Kathryn Thomas is recorded too closely and one can hear every breath she takes. This, for me, became annoying after the first few minutes - however, the sound gives a good concert hall perspective.

This small reservation apart I can wholeheartedly recommend this disk for it is a sheer delight.

Bob Briggs  

 
 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools




Return to Review Index

Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.