| Label: OPENING DAY
Catalog: ODR9379
Format: CD Wholenote Discoveries - June 2009
A couple of months ago in this column I noted the 20th anniversary release by Catherine Wilson’s Ensemble Vivant. Not content to rest on their laurels, the ensemble has just released “Fête Française”. Over the years I must confess that I have tended to ignore the group’s recordings simply as bomboniere, collections of lighter fare, all dessert and no main course. I am very pleased to find their latest release contains a much more substantial menu, with little known works by familiar composers to which we have not been overexposed in the past. Of particular note for me is the Debussy Piano Trio in G Major, an early work which was suppressed by the composer and only came to light in 1980. Having had a go at this one with my own amateur trio I was very happy to find a wonderful performance of it on this new recording. Although Debussy decided that this was not something he wanted to send out into the world to represent him, it does provide a pivotal glimpse into his development and the world he was leaving behind with the new ideas that would lead him to Impressionism. The CD also includes two other rarities, a charming collection of Alsatian folk melodies set for piano, violin and cello by Charles-Marie Widor, a composer known to most only for his organ works, and a Septet by Camille Saint-Saëns. This latter is a backward-looking work which had it been composed 50 years later – in 1930 instead of 1880 – would have been called neo-classical, or more accurately neo-baroque. Scored for the unusual combination of string quintet (with double bass), piano and trumpet, it was commissioned by the organizer of a society of wind players called La Trompette, and consists of a suite of dance movements including a menuet and gavotte. Congratulations to Ensemble Vivante for uncovering these works and presenting them with their usual flare. David Olds  Price: $16.98 |
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