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George Huson
Reviewed in the United States on January 30, 2019
Easy to install
J Scott Morrison
Reviewed in the United States on July 16, 2013
Reynaldo Hahn (1874-1947) was a Venezuela-born, Paris-raised musical Renaissance man. He composed, was a remarkably able pianist, sang his own songs in salons and cabarets, conducted, was a music critic and a closeted lover of Marcel Proust. He began writing music at an early age. He wrote probably his most familiar song 'Si mes vers avaient des ailes' ('If my verses had wings'), written to verses by Victor Hugo, when he was only fourteen. It was published in Le Figaro and became an instant hit. His music embodies the zeitgeist of la Belle Époque.His music, except for a few songs, is not well-known today. The chamber music on this disc is an example of that shameful desuetude. There is a charming, beautifully crafted Piano Quartet whose melodic ease and style immediately worm themselves into one's ear. It is given a knowing reading here by the piano quartet, Quatuor Gabriel, a French group that specializes in music of the ears; they are named for Hahn's colleague, Gabriel Fauré.Following are eleven 'Premières Valses pour Piano', played with elegance by the Quatuor's pianist, Yoko Kaneko. Then comes an uncompleted cello concerto (with piano accompaniment in an arrangement by a friend of Hahn's, Fernand Pollain) played beautifully by the French cellist, Roland Pidoux, with Kaneko at the piano. It opens with a melancholy Lento and conludes with a playful Allegro repleted with a neoclassic and contrapuntal jeu d'esprit. Violist Vincent Aucante then plays 'Soliloque et Forlane pour Alto et Piano', in two movements, the first gentle and swaying (but with increasingly complex rhythms for the soloist) and the second an allegro scherzando which is a virtuosic tour de force for the viola, all done in style here by the soloist. Aucante has a particularly beguiling tone.The disc concludes with an arrangement for six cellos (shades of Villa Lobos' Bachiana brasileira No. 5) of Hahn's 'Venezia', a set of six songs originally for voice and piano. In this version Pidoux sings the melodies on his cello accompanied by his colleagues. Lush, sweet, lovely.This disc is recommended for those who love chamber music and want to hear something a bit off the beaten path. The music is filled with Gallic charm, memorable melodies, and insouciance along with gentle melancholy.Scott Morrison
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