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Darius Milhaud

Orpheus in Aix

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Chamber Music – Petites Symphonies

January 7, 2021 by Elizabeth and Elliott Hurwitt

Between 1917 and 1923 Milhaud wrote six “petites symphonies” for between six and ten players (and in one case singers), each lasting between three and six minutes in the composer’s chosen tempi. Four of these are now available in a new disc with the Sinfonia Orchestra of Chicago under Barry Faldner, recorded in 1990-91 and also including works of Gounod and Debussy (Koch 3-7067-2H10). In the first chamber symphony, “Le printemps,” Opus 43, the mood is idyllic, the language conservative, impressionistic, pretty. The second, “Pastorale,” Opus 49, written in 1918, is in a far more modern idiom, with ambitious, virtuosic instrumental writing. It is not surprising, given the rhythmic contours of the piece, to discover that a great deal of it was written on a ship at sea. The third chamber symphony, “Sérénade,” Opus 71 (1921) is in the same modern idiom as the second. The last movement, “Rondement,” may remind some of Stravinsky’s L’histoire du soldat in its relentless energetic drive. In the same way, the fifth of the chamber symphonies, “Dixtuour d’instruments à vent,” Opus 75 (1922) displays some of the same extremes of wind and brass sonorities, and the same uncompromising modernity, that appears in the works of Edgar Varèse. Throughout, the Chicago players acquit themselves with honor.


Another intriguing account of the fifth “petite symphonie” is on Praga 250 007, played by the Prague Wind Band under Libor Pesek. Their 1964 interpretation is even more astringent and dissonant. And a new release from Koch Schwann contains the complete “petites symphonies” together with Les trois opéras-minute (3-1139-2, recorded 1990-91). The performances of the symphonies, by the Capella Cracoviensis under Karl Anton Rickenbacher, are less proficient than those of the Chicago group, and lack the panache of this Polish ensemble’s recording of the orchestrated Saudades. Still, it is good to have the complete chamber symphonies on disc, especially the fourth, Opus 75, the wonderful “Dixtuour” for stringed instruments (1921). This piece, with its vigorous opening motif and canonic final movement reshaped by polytonal treatment, sounds for all the world like a nice baroque concerto grosso that was accidentally left out overnight in the damp.

Filed Under: Chamber Works, Milhaud on CD Tagged With: Barry Faldner, Dixtuour d'instruments à vent, L'histoire du soldat, Le printemps, Les trois opéras-minute, Libor Pesek, Pastorale, Sérénade, Sinfonia Orchestra of Chicago

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Aix-en-Provence Alfred A. Knopf Arthur Honegger Bernard Desgraupes Capella Cracoviensis Catalogue de fleurs Charles Munch Darius Milhaud Dave Brubeck Elektra/Nonesuch 9 71316-2 Elektra/Nonesuch 71281-2 Elizabeth Ellis Elliott S. Hurwitt Erik Satie Hyperion CDA66594 Ian Hobson Jane Bathori Karl Anton Rickenbacher KQED La création du monde Le boeuf sur le toit Le pauvre matelot Les songes Libor Pesek Long Playing Record Catalogue Madeleine Milhaud Michel Plasson Mills College One-Spot Classic Guide Pastorale Paul Claudel Philippe Bender Poèmes juifs Ralph Swickard René Julliard Ronald Corp Saudades do Brasil Schwann-1 Record & Tape Guide Schwann Opus Serge Baudo Service Sacré Suite provençale Sénart The Classical Collector William Bolcom

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