Notes and Editorial Reviews
RAVEL
Le Tombeau de Couperin.
DEBUSSY
Petite Suite. 6 Épigraphes antiques.
PIERNÉ
Album pour mes petit amis
•
Pyramide Ens
•
DIVOX 21005 (60:58)
Ravel wrote his six-movement suite
Le Tombeau de Couperin
for solo piano between 1914 and 1917. Its title was intended to evoke the French Baroque suites common in the time
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of Couperin, but the musical content of its individual movements, each dedicated to a fallen comrade in the war, was not meant necessarily to imitate or specifically recall the style of Couperin and his contemporaries.
In 1919, Ravel orchestrated four of the six movements—the Prélude, Forlane, Menuet, and Rigaudon—and, according to the program note, altered the order of movements, placing the Rigaudon first. If that’s so, the Pyramide Ensemble has chosen not to follow the revised order, for the Rigaudon still comes last, as it does in every other version of the piece I have. That point is not as worthy of comment, however, as is the fact that
this
rendition of
Le Tombeau
suddenly has five movements instead of the six in the original solo piano composition or the four in Ravel’s orchestral arrangement. Restored is the Fugue, the original piano score’s second movement, in an arrangement by the ensemble flutist and piccolo player, Markus Brönnimann.
But even that takes a back seat to the arrangements themselves, which are scored for a rather different complement of instruments than Ravel put together for his own orchestrations. Ravel called for two flutes (one doubling piccolo), two oboes (one doubling English horn), two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, harp, and strings—in other words, a pretty good-sized chamber orchestra. Here, in contrast, we have the aforementioned Brönnimann on flute (doubling on piccolo), Barbara Tillmann on oboe (doubling on English horn), Ulrike Jacoby on violin, Muriel Schweizer on viola, Anita Jehli on cello, and Jaël Bertschinger on harp. Missing from the mix are the clarinets, bassoons, horns, trumpets, and a larger body of strings that lend not just considerable weight to the score but, more significantly, a good deal of color.
Execution by this sextet of players is nimble and adroit, and the soothing sounds produced are beguiling, but Ravel was one of music’s greatest orchestrators and Brönnimann is not quite in the same league. I find it curious, in fact, that Brönnimann himself states in his liner note, “When one has heard the enchanting colors of the orchestra in
Le Tombeau de Couperin
, it is difficult to forget them and obtain completely new results.” Yes, it is.
Debussy’s four-movement
Petite Suite
began as a work for piano four-hands and was subsequently scored for full orchestra by Henri Büsser. The
Six Épigraphes antiques
underwent a slightly more complicated evolution—or perhaps devolution would be a better choice of word, for it began as incidental music to accompany a single reading of 12 of Pierre Louÿs’s
Chansons de Bilitis
in 1901. For the occasion, it was scored for two flutes, two harps, and celesta.
Thirteen years later, the music underwent devolution when Debussy discarded about half of the original material and arranged what remained into a six-movement suite for piano four-hands. That’s when it took on its present title. Unlike Ravel, Debussy didn’t write much orchestral music of his own, and he never got around to orchestrating the
Six Épigraphes antiques
himself. In 1939, however, Ernest Ansermet transcribed the work for full orchestra. So I suppose you could call Brönnimann’s arrangement an expansion of Debussy’s piano duet version or a shrinking of Ansermet’s orchestral version.
A contemporary of Debussy and Ravel, Gabriel Pierné (1863–1937) is a composer who has long found himself in their shadow. No claim is made that he rivaled either of them, but he did write some very attractive music, of which his six-movement suite
Album pour mes petit ami
, can be counted. It too is a work originally written for piano, rather along the lines of Debussy’s
Children’s Corner
and Schumann’s
Kinderszenen
, but unlike those pieces, Pierné’s was in fact written for children’s hands. Its last movement, “March of the Little Tin Soldiers,” is apparently quite popular as there are several recordings of it in orchestral arrangements, though who orchestrated it I don’t know. Brönnimann’s modest arrangement of the entire suite works well and seems more fitting for these unpretentious, childlike romps and reveries than do his transcription of the Ravel and Debussy works.
Still, the disc offers an hour’s worth of very pleasant, mostly relaxing music, stylishly played. The album is titled
Suites Françaises
, and that’s exactly what you get. Recommended for polished playing and excellent recording, but not exactly a necessary expenditure if you’re watching your discretionary dollars these days.
FANFARE: Jerry Dubins
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Works on This Recording
1.
Petite suite for Piano 4 hands by Claude Debussy
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Ensemble Pyramide
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1886-1889; France
Venue: Kirche Marthalen, Schweiz
Length: 12 Minutes 11 Secs.
2.
Epigraphes antiques (6) by Claude Debussy
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Ensemble Pyramide
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1914; France
Venue: Kirche Marthalen, Schweiz
Length: 13 Minutes 44 Secs.
4.
Le tombeau de Couperin: no 1, Prélude by Maurice Ravel
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Ensemble Pyramide
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1914-1917; France
Venue: Kirche Marthalen, Schweiz
Length: 3 Minutes 11 Secs.
5.
Le tombeau de Couperin: no 2, Fugue by Maurice Ravel
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Ensemble Pyramide
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1914-1917; France
Venue: Kirche Marthalen, Schweiz
Length: 3 Minutes 39 Secs.
6.
Le tombeau de Couperin: no 3, Forlane by Maurice Ravel
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Ensemble Pyramide
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1914-1917; France
Venue: Kirche Marthalen, Schweiz
Length: 5 Minutes 8 Secs.
7.
Le tombeau de Couperin: no 5, Menuet by Maurice Ravel
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Ensemble Pyramide
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1914-1917; France
Venue: Kirche Marthalen, Schweiz
Length: 4 Minutes 3 Secs.
8.
Le tombeau de Couperin: no 4, Rigaudon by Maurice Ravel
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Ensemble Pyramide
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1914-1917; France
Venue: Kirche Marthalen, Schweiz
Length: 3 Minutes 5 Secs.
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