Ernest Chausson

[Barbirollians]

I wonder what other forumites think but I have a very soft spot for his music . I suppose it had largely been limited to the Poeme and the Poeme de l'amour et la mer and the concert for violin piano and string quartet.

I have recently come across a second hand copy of Munch's recording of the Symphony in B Major . A really impressive work , lots of good tunes plenty of momentum and far from over thickly scored .

A great shame he lost control of his bike that June day in 1899 .

[Serial_Apologist]

I wonder what other forumites think but I have a very soft spot for his music . I suppose it had largely been limited to the Poeme and the Poeme de l'amour et la mer and the concert for violin piano and string quartet.

I have recently come across a second hand copy of Munch's recording of the Symphony in B Major . A really impressive work , lots of good tunes plenty of momentum and far from over thickly scored .

A great shame he lost control of his bike that June day in 1899 .

He was a pupil of Franck, wasn't he? One of that Wagner-influenced group that included D'Indy and Dukas. Admired by Debussy, who was a friend early on. The two works you mention are the only ones of his I have heard - the Concert (?) on TTN a few months ago; I was surprised at how harmonically advanced it was for its date, almost foreshadowing Verklarte Nacht.

[umslopogaas]

I seem to have a surprising amount of Chausson's music without any conscious intention to acquire it. I have (on LP):

Concerto for violin, piano and string qrt. Op. 21 (2 recordings)
Poeme Op.25
Piano Qrt. Op. 30
Symphony in B flat Op. 20 (3 recordings)
Poeme de l' amour et de la mer Op dunno, doesnt give it

And on CD, another recording of the Symphony, cond. Ansermet.

Which suggests to me that fashions change, and there is a lot more Chausson out there that doesnt get played these days. Its a long time since I played those discs, but I recall the Symphony as stirring stuff. Perhaps its time for a Chausson renaissance?

[EdgeleyRob]

Absolutely love the symphony in B flat,that and the other works mentioned are all I know

[jayne lee wilson]

Absolutely, yes, and again yes to all the works umslopogas mentioned. A lovely arrangement, well worth hunting down, is an orchestral version of the Concert for Violin and Piano, with Dmitri Sitkovetsky (Vn. and Direction) Bella Davidovitch and the Moscow Chamber Orchestra. It's on a Delos CD called "Jubilee" to honour Davidovitch's 80th. (Search Amazon under: "Delos Chausson" - also at CS as a download).

In the B Flat Symphony, Munch on various BMG/RCA issues (lovely Japanese Blu-Spec CD!) and of course Paray in Detroit on Mercury are pretty much out on their own, but a more recent one from Louis Langree with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Liege on Accord gets the idiom right too.

Hyperion's series of the chamber works is very fine - gorgeously played and recorded, but there are notable historic efforts that I haven't explored. Anyone?

[Panjandrum]

Surprised no-one has mentioned the String Quartet, which he left unfinished at his death (3 mvmts survive). Favourite version: Muir Qt c/w Concert for Vn & Pn (Collard; Dumay)

[Roehre]

Chausson's Pianotrio op.3 is IMO a worthy companion to Fauré's late op.120, as the former's "late" quintet op.30 is to the latter's (also "late") piano quintets.

But let's not forget his other orchestral works: viviane (op.5), Tempest (op.18) and Soir de Fete (op.32).
All enjoyable, decreasingly wagnerian/franckian, increasingly 20C-harmonies-foreshadowing works.
Btw, the "Song of love and the sea" is opus 19.

What a pity he has destroyed more completed scores than the number which actually survived his severe self-criticism....

[cloughie]

Really like Chausson. I checked out 10 (12 inc radio recs) recordings of the Symphony. I think my first was an Eclipse LP by PCO/Denzler. My most recent CDs by YP Tortieler and Dutoit.

[Don Petter]

Really like Chausson. I checked out 10 (12 inc radio recs) recordings of the Symphony. I think my first was an Eclipse LP by PCO/Denzler. My most recent CDs by YP Tortieler and Dutoit.

You beat me there! I only seem to have Fournet, Jankowski, Mitropoulos and Plasson.

[AmpH]

Other than the Poeme I know little of Chaussons music, so have recently begun to explore beginning with a typically excellent budget Regis disc of French Orchestral Music by the Radio PO Netherlands conducted by Jean Fournet, which includes the Symphony in B Flat and which proved to be a very enjoyable listen. I will definitely be seeking out further discs of this composer.

[Keraulophone]

Once borrowed his opera Le Roi Arthus from Ivan March's Squires Gate LPRL (RIP)... a post-Wagnerian ramble, but worth a listen.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2005/jun/10/classicalmusicandopera.shopping The recording I heard was made by Radio France forces under Armin Jordan in 1985 (Erato).

[PJPJ]

As I mentioned in my forlorn thread about Frederick Stock, he made a very interesting recording of the symphony in the last year of his life, well worth seeking out. Out of copyright in the EU - PM me if you have a problem acquiring it from the link given.

[3rd Viennese School]

Wots that one that Chausson did that was on the Channel 4 testcard? I like that one.

3VS

[Barbirollians]

I shall look out for Le Roi Arthus . No doubt one of those operas that is not staged as it would be too expensive and not enough bums on seats .

[Barbirollians]

I had forgotten how much I love Poeme for violin and orchestra - dug out Kyung Wha Chung's recording from the 1970s and cannot stop playing it .