Search - Ernest Chausson, Chilingirian Quartet, Pascal Devoyon :: Chausson: Concert; Piano Quartet

The Short Happy Life of A.-E. CHAUSSON...

Sébastien Melmoth | Hôtel d'Alsace, PARIS | 01/01/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

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A native Parisian (b. 1855), Chausson grew up attending the intelligentsia-salons of the Capital, developing (like Magnard) a serious and cogent disposition.

In 1877 Chausson took a J.D. and was admitted to the French Bar, but financial independence gave him freedom to pursue his avocation of music.

In 1880, as Massenet's pupil, Chausson entered a work for the Prix de Rome: he was not successful.

Instead he continued his studies with César Franck and became an ardent Wagnerite making three trips to Germany between 1879-82, where he experienced firsthand the Ring cycle, Tristan, and Parsifal.

Chausson eventually established his own salon where, in the extremely exciting intellectual and artistic ferment of la Belle Époque, the lights of Paris met.

Chausson's life itself was virtually a work of art--albeit a quiet and peaceful one--which was suddenly cut short in 1899 by a cycling accident (wherein he was literally unable to stop in time to avoid hitting a brick wall [!]).

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Had he lived longer Chausson may have garnered the epithet of "French Brahms" along with Fauré.

The chamber works featured on this disc represent Chausson's art and ethos at its ripest.



The luminous Piano Quartet (1897) is a quintessential example of the lucid rationality and restrained sensuality of the Gallic mind--but this could be said of nearly all Chausson's oeuvre.

It consists of four large movements which feature excellent part-writing, exotic tinges of Chinoiserie and Espagnole, Franckian harmonies, and wistful imagery.

Furthermore, the Quartet exibits the textual density and specific gravity of the Franckian school (cf. Duparc, Lekeu, Magnard, D'Indy, et alii).



The sextet for violin and piano duo plus string quartet "Concert" (1891) likewise reveals in tandem Chausson's personal esthetic and contemporaneous topoi in Franckian cyclothymia, hypermodulation, and intense lyricism.

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Violinist Philippe Graffin (Venice-Busano violin, 1730), pianist Pascal Devoyon, and the Chilingrian Quartet provide radiant performances of this art to which they seem especially devoted. Hyperion's sonics and cover art tasteful and superb as always.

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Chausson: Poème in Ef; Trio in Gm

Chausson, D'Indy: String Quartets

The Songs of Chausson / Lott · Murray · McGreevy · Trakas · Chilingirian Quartet · G. Johnson

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String Quartets & Piano Quartet

Guillaume Lekeu: Quatuor; Molto Adagio

Guillaume Lekeu: Cello Sonata in F major / Three Pieces

Lekeu: Piano Quartet; Piano Trio

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Alberic Magnard | Guillaume Lekeu: Violin Sonatas

Quatuor Op.16-Sonate Pour Violoncelle Op.2

Caplet/Magnard: Wind Quintets

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