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Loeffler, Durufle, Pierné
Maurice Duruflé, Charles Martin Loeffler, Gabriel Pierné

London Conchord Ensemble

Loeffler, Durufle, Pierné

Price: € 19.95
Format: CD
Label: Champs Hill
UPC: 5060212590114
Catnr: CHRCD 010
Release date: 01 September 2010
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Label
Champs Hill
UPC
5060212590114
Catalogue number
CHRCD 010
Release date
01 September 2010
Album
Artist(s)
Composer(s)
EN

About the album

The London Conchord Ensemble are joined on this disc by the baritone William Dazeley, presenting a seductive collection of fascinating chamber works and songs written by three major 20th Century French chamber music composers. Sensual and intimate, these works epitomise these works epitomise the music of early 20th-century France, with their fluid lines and unusual textures, sensitively captured here by Conchord.

Though born in Berlin, Charles Loeffler claimed to hail from Alsace, so strongly did he identify with the French aesthetic. His Five Songs set poetry by French poets Baudelaire and Verlaine, and his musical style recalls Franck, Chausson and Debussy. Add to this a Russian sense of instrumental colour, and the result is a fascinating concoction of expressive and of expressive and evocative musical elements.

Pierné's Sonata Da Camera is reminiscent of Debussy's seminal Sonata for Flute, Viola and Harp in its poignant colours and intricate
textures, while Duruflé's Prélude Recitatif et Variations reveals a different style from that of his Variations reveals a different style from that of his famous Requiem in writing that recalls Ravel.

Throughout this disc, Conchord plays with an effortless grace and flair, a finesse that perfectly, a finesse that perfectly communicates this exquisite selection of music.

Artist(s)

London Conchord Ensemble

London Conchord Ensemble is one of Europe’s leading chamber ensembles. Their imaginative programming and charismatic performance style have won them many accolades over the years, and they celebrated their 10th anniversary with a BBC Chamber Music Prom at Cadogan Hall. The group has made frequent broadcasts on BBC Radio 3 and American National Public Radio. Highlights of recent seasons include performances at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Wigmore Hall, Dusseldorf Tonhalle, Brussels Palais des Beaux Arts, Library of Congress in Washington D.C., and tours of Germany, France, America and New Zealand. Conchord performed a ten-centre nationwide tour as part of Chamber Music New Zealand's International ‘Kaleidoscopes’ Concert Season that included Radio New Zealand broadcasts. With a variety of programmes designed to showcase their...
more

London Conchord Ensemble is one of Europe’s leading chamber ensembles. Their imaginative programming and charismatic performance style have won them many accolades over the years, and they celebrated their 10th anniversary with a BBC Chamber Music Prom at Cadogan Hall. The group has made frequent broadcasts on BBC Radio 3 and American National Public Radio. Highlights of recent seasons include performances at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw,

Wigmore Hall, Dusseldorf Tonhalle, Brussels Palais des Beaux Arts, Library of Congress in Washington D.C., and tours of Germany, France, America and New Zealand. Conchord performed a ten-centre nationwide tour as part of Chamber Music New Zealand's International ‘Kaleidoscopes’ Concert Season that included Radio New Zealand broadcasts. With a variety of programmes designed to showcase their flair and flexibility; the group also reached out to a younger audience where they introduced great chamber music works to children.


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Composer(s)

Maurice Duruflé

Maurice Duruflé was a French composer and organist, who wrote chamber music and works for choir, organ and orchestra. He was also organist of Saint-Étienne-du-Mont in Paris, professor of harmony at the Paris Conservatory, and formed a famous organ duo with his wife  Marie-Madeleine Chevalier.    Duruflé published only a handful of works, because he was highly critical. He was not easily pleased, and often continued to edit and change pieces after publication. The result of this perfectionism is that his music tends to be well polished, and is still frequently performed in concerts around the world, especially his organ music. Duruflé's works are reminiscent of impressionism, and are characterized by clarity, poetry and a clear design. Besides, Gregorian chant is an important source of...
more
Maurice Duruflé was a French composer and organist, who wrote chamber music and works for choir, organ and orchestra. He was also organist of Saint-Étienne-du-Mont in Paris, professor of harmony at the Paris Conservatory, and formed a famous organ duo with his wife Marie-Madeleine Chevalier.
Duruflé published only a handful of works, because he was highly critical. He was not easily pleased, and often continued to edit and change pieces after publication. The result of this perfectionism is that his music tends to be well polished, and is still frequently performed in concerts around the world, especially his organ music.
Duruflé's works are reminiscent of impressionism, and are characterized by clarity, poetry and a clear design. Besides, Gregorian chant is an important source of inspiration, which is evident from the use of medieval modes. For his most famous work, the Requiem, Duruflé took the Gregorian mass of the dead as his point of departure, and combined it with the structure and optimism of the Requiem of Fauré.

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Gabriel Pierné

Currently Gabriel Pierné is primarily known as a conductor. From 1910 till 1933 he was the principal conductor of the concert series Concerts Colonne. He also led the premiere of Stravinsky's ballet The Firebird, performed by the Ballets Russes, for whom he also composed three succesful ballets. Most of Pierné's compositions are forgotten today. Yet he was he striking figure of the French organ school, who succeeded César Franck as organist at the Sainte-Clotilde Basilica in Paris in 1890, where he displayed his talent on the organ of the influential builder Aristide Cavaillé-Coll. Besides a modest number of organ works, his oeuvre consists of operas, ballets, oratorios, orchestral works and chamber music. All of his works are marked by the influences of his teachers Franck and Massenet and...
more
Currently Gabriel Pierné is primarily known as a conductor. From 1910 till 1933 he was the principal conductor of the concert series Concerts Colonne. He also led the premiere of Stravinsky's ballet The Firebird, performed by the Ballets Russes, for whom he also composed three succesful ballets.
Most of Pierné's compositions are forgotten today. Yet he was he striking figure of the French organ school, who succeeded César Franck as organist at the Sainte-Clotilde Basilica in Paris in 1890, where he displayed his talent on the organ of the influential builder Aristide Cavaillé-Coll.
Besides a modest number of organ works, his oeuvre consists of operas, ballets, oratorios, orchestral works and chamber music. All of his works are marked by the influences of his teachers Franck and Massenet and a clear technique. His most famous works are the oratorio La Croisade des Enfants, Introduction et variations sur une ronde populaire for saxophone quartet and the Marche des petits soldats de plomb for piano.

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