French Cello Music Discoveries

Passages: French Cello Works Louise Dubin, cello. Spencer Myer, piano .Julia Bruskin, cello. Bridge 9597 Total Time: 50:13 Recording:   ****/**** Performance: ****/****

Passages features a collection of mostly lesser-known works for solo cello by French composers, several here receiving their world premiere recordings.  Louise Dubin performs with the Baltimore and New Jersey Symphonies and is noted for her research on composer Auguste Franchomme (1808-1884) whose music and transcriptions are featured here.  The recital is bookended by two sonatas.

The first of these sonatas is by Charles Koechlin (1867-1950).  From 1917, the three-movement work certainly has its moments of Impressionist color, but it very much winds its way through the unique sound worlds of Koechline’s style.  There are chant-like reflections, lyrical solo lines, shifting meters, and interesting melodic fragmentation.  The harmonies also move gradually to a more modernist style.  All ends in a whisper.  All of this is in a quite captivating piece. 

A bit of a transition then brings us one of the pieces for two cellos.  First is a delightful work by Faure (Allegro moderato for 2 cellos) from 1897 written as a competitive sight-reading work during Paris Conservatory exams. It is followed by two transcriptions, first of a Chopin etude (Op. 25/7) by Franchomme and then a “Serenade” from Poulenc’s Chansons Gaillardes.  The latter arranged by Maurice Gendron.  Both are equally gorgeous.  Later a more contemporary piece for 2 cellos, Caprices by Philippe Hersant (b. 1948) provides a nice palette cleanser adapted in 2005 from an earlier work.

Two works by Franchomme provide a chance to hear this composer’s work.  The Nocturne, Op. 14/2 was published in 1838 and takes its inspiration from the work of Chopin.  It is for two cellos and after a warm introduction shifts into a more folk-like central section before its plaintive melody returns.  The Air Irlandaise, Varies, Op. 25/3 is from the 1841 publication of Trois Airs Nationaux Estrangers.  Here is that penchant for folk music in an adaption of an Irish air. 

Debussy’s wonderful Cello Sonata (1915) is among his last works and makes for a great conclusion here pulling together the threads of his musical language into a tight work in three brief movements.  It is filled with some rather interesting modernist shifts in the midst of the whole tone and pentatonic scales illustrating the advancement of his style at the end of his life.

In this well-chosen program, Dubin creates an engaging listening experience with committed performances.  There are some technical opportunities for virtuosity, but on display here is her gorgeous development of sound in these warm harmonies.  It is certainly captured by the sound engineers.  Rhythmic accuracy is also on great display with crisp articulations.  Myer proves an equally fine partner in his support in the larger sonatas here.  Spencer Myer also is an apt companion for the two-cello pieces.  Passages is an intelligently-planned and executed album of gorgeous chamber music worth exploring and highly recommended!