Françaix: Chamber Music

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Release Date: 23rd Jul 2021
Catalogue No: 96341
Label: Brilliant Classics
Length: 49 minutes

Usually despatched in 3 - 4 working days

Françaix: String Trio

Work length12:18

$4.00

$5.20

Caroline Strumphler (violin), Ken Hakii (viola), Daniël Esser (cello)

I. Allegretto - Vivo

Track length2:08

$1.00

$1.30

II. Scherzo - Vivo

Track length2:53

$1.00

$1.30

III. Andante

Track length3:35

$1.00

$1.30

IV. Rondo. Vivo

Track length3:42

$1.00

$1.30

Françaix: Le Colloque des deux perruches, for flute and alto flute

Work length18:18

$6.00

$7.80

Thies Roorda (flute), Rien de Reede (alto flute)

I. Allegrissimo

Track length1:36

$1.00

$1.30

II. Presto

Track length1:33

$1.00

$1.30

III. Larghetto

Track length3:06

$1.00

$1.30

IV. Scherzando

Track length3:36

$1.00

$1.30

V. Larghetto

Track length5:04

$1.00

$1.30

VI. Allegro

Track length3:23

$1.00

$1.30

Françaix: Divertissement for flute and piano

Work length11:01

$5.00

$6.50

Thies Roorda (flute), Jean Françaix (piano)

I. Toccatina

Track length1:13

$1.00

$1.30

II. Notturno

Track length1:52

$1.00

$1.30

III. Perpetuum mobile

Track length1:05

$1.00

$1.30

IV. Romanza

Track length3:18

$1.00

$1.30

V. Finale

Track length3:33

$1.00

$1.30

Françaix: Cantate de Mephisto

Work length7:57

$2.00

$2.60

Romain Bischoff (baritone), Marleen Asberg (violin), Christoph Streuli (violin), Michael Gieler (viola), Daniël Esser (cello), Jan Wolfs (double bass)

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A unique collection of chamber music by the master of French neoclassicism, featuring a performance of the Divertimento for flute with the composer at the piano.

In his 80s, Jean Françaix (1912-1997) supervised this 1996 Dutch album of four pieces for varied forces, writing the engaging booklet notes and performing with undimmed skill in the Divertimento which he wrote back in 1953 for the flautist Jean-Pierre Rampal. As he notes, the title is somewhat ironic for those who play it: ‘if it is “diverting” to listen to, it is not at all so to play it and requires great virtuosity.’

Le Colloque des deux Perruches (The Dialogue of Two Parakeets) is a modern classic of the repertoire for two flutes: a six-movement dialogue opening with a fluttering, swooping Allegrissimo, followed by a melancholy little Larghetto. Smiles and laughter are never far away in Françaix’s music and the mood brightens with a darting Scherzando. The fifth movement is another plaintive Larghetto, with the parakeets in earnest conversation.

As a 22-year-old composer of already remarkable fluency, Françaix composed the String Trio for the Trio Pasquier, who went on to play it in over a thousand concerts: an inimitably bustling, weightless piece in four movements enclosing a wistful Andante and rounding off with one of those Françaix tunes that turns round in the listener’s head for days afterwards.

The ten-minute Cantate de Méphisto sets a text by Paul Valéry: according to the composer, ‘This 'Méphisto' is terribly authentic, cunning, subversive and perverse.’ The devil wheedles and beguiles in a lyric parlando, accompanied by a string ensemble, spiced by the irony and satire of his operas and comedies such as Le diable boiteux, his first work for the stage. Valéry’s text is printed in the booklet. Françaix’s music features in countless compilations: here is an authoritatively performed opportunity to immerse yourself in his world for ‘une heure exquise’.

Françaix: Chamber Music

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