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

Chandos recordings
All Chandos 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: MDT AmazonUK AmazonUS
Sound Samples & Downloads

Gabriel DUPONT (1878-1914)
Les Heures Dolentes (1903-5) [53:16]
La Maison dans les Dunes (1907-9) [41:18]
Stéphane Lemelin (piano)
rec. Salle Françoys-Bernier, Domaine Forget, Saint-Irénée, Quebec, December 2007. DDD
ATMA CLASSIQUE ACD2 2544 [53:16 + 41:18]

Experience Classicsonline

The nearest Maurice Ravel got in five attempts to winning the musical Prix de Rome was in 1901, when his String Quartet could only manage third behind André Caplet's cantata Myrrha. This much-told anecdote usually omits to mention the Second Prize winner, who was French composer Gabriel Dupont - no relation to Debussy's lover, Gabrielle Dupont. Dupont's output is small, his life cut short by illness, yet his lack of recognition is a cause for dismay.

This lengthy recital by Canadian pianist Stéphane Lemelin is the latest in Montreal-based ATMA Classique's 'Musique Française - Découvertes ('Discoveries') 1890-1939', a series which has already attempted to restore other names almost lost to the vagaries of history: Théodore Dubois, Gustave Samazeuilh (review), Guy Ropartz, Georges Migot and Manuel Rosenthal. Every disc features Lemelin, the brains of the project, either as soloist or as part of the Trio Hochelaga.

Dupont wrote Les Heures Dolentes ('The Mournful Hours') whilst suffering and then recuperating from tuberculosis. The suggestive subtitles of the fourteen movements reflect a physical and mental journey through convalescence at a spa, from the peacefulness of 'Evening Falls inside the Bedroom', the early optimism of 'Sunshine in the Garden' and 'A Lady Friend Has Come with Some Flowers', the ambiguities of 'The Doctor', the eerie resignation of 'Death Lurks' and the sinister sonorities and rhythms of 'Sleepless Night - Hallucinations'. Fortunately Dupont survives and the work finishes with relief and perhaps a little hope in 'Calm'. Basically late-Romantic fragranced with Impressionistic petals, recalling at times Fauré, Debussy and Granados, the music is programmatic, but poetic, not clichéd; atmospheric from beginning to end, and overall memorably colourful and rather beautiful, sometimes almost orchestral in effect.

La Maison dans les Dunes ('The House on the Dunes') is even better. Though again composed by Dupont whilst at a seaside refuge for TB sufferers, he was, temporarily at least, in much better health. The vividness of this suite reflects that. The House in question looks out to sea - and what can be seen there in the course of a day, from the movements of the waves to sailboats, all manner of weather and the changing sky, is what the ten movements seek to evoke. The music, steeped in beautiful chromatic harmony, is by turn playful, sun-bathed, agitated, poignant, but always gloriously lyrical. Given especially the watery theme, Debussy not surprisingly looms large, Ravel to a lesser degree, but Dupont's sound is original and in some ways has greater immediacy and wider appeal. The House on the Dunes is transcendent music perfect for gazing out to sea to on warm summer days under great blue skies; failing that: anytime, anywhere.

The prolific Bulgarian pianist Emile Naoumoff recorded both these works in the mid 2000s for French label Saphir (LVC1097), who subtitled their double-disc release 'Complete Works for Solo Piano' - Oxford Music Online notes at least some further Feuillets d'Album. There are some notable deviations in timings between Naoumoff and Lemelin, with the latter's accounts generally on the faster side. On Timpani, meanwhile, French pianist François Kerdoncouff has recorded La Maison dans les Dunes (1C1072) - that disc has the advantage of including Dupont's substantial Poème for piano quintet. On the same label, incidentally, can be found Dupont's 'Complete Songs' (Timpani 1C1089).

Back on ATMA, Lemelin's performance in these two demanding works is very impressive. He brings out the pathos, colour, humour and artistry in Dupont's writing with intelligence, passion and eloquence. Sound quality is very good. The CD booklet is a paragon of clarity, and can be downloaded/previewed for free here. The only quibble, really, is that this is officially a double-disc set with a price-tag that reflects that, even though it is only fifteen minutes longer than a single.

Byzantion
Collected reviews and contact at reviews.gramma.co.uk

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


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






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.