Born in Marseilles
in 1968, Régis Campo first studied
composition at the conservatory of his
own town as well as philosophy in Aix-en-Provence.
He continued his studies at the Paris
conservatory with the late Gérard
Grisey, also meeting Denisov and Dutilleux.
He often mentions Mahler, Stravinsky,
Ives and Messiaen as composers he admires.
This certainly shows in his music from
time to time, although he manages to
plough his own furrow regardless of
trends and fashions. He is his own man
in whatever he undertakes, as the three
very different pieces heard here generously
demonstrate.
The Piano Concerto,
completed in 1999 and dedicated to Jay
Gottlieb, is in two movements of equal
length played without a break. The first
movement Les Horloges (lumineux et
souple) opens softly, almost mysteriously,
and freely unfolds over the insistent
ticking of a pair of metronomes. The
regular beat of the metronomes is constantly
contradicted by the supple, almost independent
piano part. This is not as prominent
as one might have expected, for the
piano is more a partner blending with
the orchestra than an opponent battling
against it. The music often relies on
repetitive patterns that might remind
one of Reich or of Ligeti’s "clockworks".
That said it is Ravel who most often
comes to mind - principally his Piano
Concerto in G major. The first
movement leads straight into the second
movement Rondo incorporating a long,
improvised cadenza capped by a short
restatement of the Rondo’s opening music.
Campo’s Piano Concerto is a really fine
piece that deserves to become part of
the repertoire, as a welcome addition
to Ravel’s G major Concerto
or Prokofiev’s Third which it also faintly
echoes.
Music to Hear
is scored for seven voices (three sopranos,
two altos and two tenors) and five instruments
(clarinet, bass clarinet, alto saxophone,
cello and double bass). It sets bits
and pieces from some of Shakespeare’s
Sonnets, but the piece is rather after
Shakespeare than on. The composer
chose and arranged fragments from the
Sonnets more for their sonic potential
than for their actual meaning. This
is particularly evident in O! From
What! (track 10, after Sonnet 150)
in which a few words are chosen and
repeated at length; or in Slight
Air (track 6, after Sonnet 45) that
vividly imitates a breath of air. So,
too, in Alack (track 7, after
Sonnet 103) and in Which which
(track 9, after Sonnet 147), subtitled
First homage to The Beatles and
Second homage to The Beatles
respectively. Music to Hear
also presents another side of Campo’s
music, displaying playfulness and humour.
He does not neglect lyricism either,
as in When to the sessions of sweet
silent (track 8, after Sonnet 30)
or the concluding Music to Hear II
(track 10, after Sonnet 6), the latter
providing a beautiful conclusion to
this very entertaining piece of resourceful
and imaginative choral writing.
Pop-Art,
the most recent work here, is scored
for a Pierrot Lunaire instrumental
ensemble (flute, clarinet, piano and
string trio). It displays yet another
facet of Campo’s music-making, in that
the composer calls for various sound
productions, from "instrumental
noise" à la Lachenmann
to "normal sound". The music
also has a minimalist ring, of the rough-hewn
sort heard in Louis Andriessen’s music.
Add to this considerable raw energy,
not heard in the other pieces on this
disc.
This excellently produced
CD introduces this young composer’s
music. He happily blends formal and
instrumental mastery with refreshingly
unpretentious straightforwardness. This
is happy music-making of the highest
order, which does not mean that it is
either easy or slight. I simply mean
that here is a composer who does not
take himself too seriously and who enjoys
writing music likely to surprise in
one way or another. I look forward to
hearing more of Campo’s music. Warmly
recommended.
Hubert Culot
Jay Gottlieb (piano)a; Orchestre Philharmonique
de Radio France, Pascal Rophéa;
Musicatreize, Roland Haraybèdianb;
Ensemble des Lauréats du Conservatoire,
Kanako Abec 
