Roussel: Sérénade for flute, string trio & harp, Op. 30

An iconic record, this collection of two well-known (Debussy, Ravel) and two rarities (Roussel, Ropartz) of the chamber music repertoire was issued in both its LP and CD incarnations to great acclaim. It was recorded in the unusually spacious acoustic of Walthamstow Assembly Hall and its late producer, Ray Minshull, provides an amusing recollection of the genesis of this now legendary recording.

"The Melos Ensemble is extremely sensitive to the nuances and rubatos of the music, produces some lovely tone, and succeeds in making the work hold together..." Gramophone.

The five composers on this disc share the clarity and refinement, brio and wit, and subtle sensuality that permeate French music written between the Franco-Prussian and Second World Wars.

Each found in literature, the visual arts and the music of Debussy and Ravel touchstones for their own compositions, while expressing their individual personalities.

Refinement and pellucid textures characterise Tournier’s Suite; vigour, elegance and passion Schmitt’s.

Françaix’s Quintet, much-loved for its charm and delicacy, matches Roussel’s neo-classical Serenade and complements Pierné’s virtuosic and translucently scored Variations.

This debut CD by the young French flutist Sarah Louvion is from both the artistic point of view as well as in regards to the expansion of repertoire an enrichment of every classical music collection.

Pierre-Philippe Bauzin, an extraordinary musician with a multi-faceted career, dedicated his flute concert that he finished in 1960 to Jean-Pierre Rampal. It was performed for the first and only time 40 years ago, and has inexplicably fallen into oblivion since.

Jean-Gabriel Bauzin, son of the composer who died in 2005, said about the rediscovery of this brilliant and melodic work by Sarah Louvion: "It is a truly fortunate coincidence that this work is interpreted and revived by such a talented young flutist."

In Albert Roussel’s serenade, the flute gains a very soloistic character due to its swiftness and expressiveness, and yet again ideally presents Sarah Louvion’s excellent play.

André Jolivets describes his musical intentions as follows: "From the technical point of view, my goal is to entirely liberate myself from the tonal system. As far as aesthetics are concerned, I would like to replenish music with its original function in regards to magic and invocation."

His composing style is complex and demands a highly versatile play, which is easily accomplished by Sarah Louvion and her ensemble.

This charming double album pays tribute to a very French institution - the Paris Instrumental Quintet, renamed following World War Two after harpist Pierre Jamet. All the works on the second disc were written for, or commissioned by, the Quintet, and recorded soon after their premières, so that this release is an important historical document as well as a very civilised listening experience. And sooo French!

The Montreal Chamber Players, all members of the Orchestre symphonique de Montreal who are also avid chamber-music players join Jennifer Swartz, principal harp with the OSM and a prolific soloist, for this recording of French works from the post-Romantic and Impressionistic periods.

They play works written by Ravel in his youth, and by Debussy at the peak of his career. They also play masterpieces by three less known but equally indispensable composers: an ode to the sea beside which he grew up by Ropartz, strongly influenced by the Breton folk tradition; one of the very last works that Koechlin completed, amply demonstrating his unerring instinct as an orchestrator; and Roussel's Sérénade, a musical snapshot of Paris in the Roaring Twenties, full of vivid impressions and effervescent poetry.