Rumon Gamba and the Iceland Symphony Orchestra follow their Grammy-nominated volume 1 and Editor's Choice winning Volume 2 with four rare orchestral works from Vincent D'Indy's legacy. The previous volumes have obtained such comments as '...superbly realised by the excellent Iceland Symphony Orchestra under Rumon Gamba and the state-of-the-art Chandos recording; definitely a key record of d'Indy's orchestra output' (Gramophone) and 'this series is going to be virtually definitive' Musical Opinion Composed in 1916-18 at the climax of the Great War, d'Indy's last symphony is a valid reflection of his intense patriotism. In its dramatic theatric and tonal conflicts it well portrays the heightened emotions of exaltation and terror experienced by the French nation. D'Indy's seven-variation programmatic work, Istar, Op.42 is a beautiful, flowing work set in the underworld and inspired by the sixth canto of an ancient Assyrian epic poem called Izdubar that was probably written around 2000 B.C. The unconventionally conceived yet well integrated work Choral Varie for Saxophone Solo ans orchestra, Op.55 employs an eclectic variety of styles. Like certain other French composers such as Bizet, D'Indy well understood the saxophone's expressive potential. The solo role is taken by one of Iceland's most prominent musicians, Sigurður Flosason, who has twice been nominated for the Nordic Music Prize, and four time winner of the Icelandic Music Awards. Volume 3 is completed by D'Indy's last orchestral work, Diptyque Mediterraneen, Op.87. It reflects the Indian summer which his happy second marriage brought him in his final decade. There is a certain similarity with the earlier Ardeche-inspired Jour d'ete a la montagne in its illustration of the sacred rhythms of nature during the course of the day, but here the influence of Debussy is clearly apparent in its superb Mediterranean-like clarity of texture.

D'Indy was a contemporary of Debussy and Ravel, and a pupil of César Franck. Fauré described him as 'The Samson of Music' for his multifarious and generous-minded work as a composer, conductor, educator, and propagandist who greatly strengthened French musical culture. With a style essentially eclectic and strongly influenced above all by Beethoven and Wagner, d'Indy particularly excelled in orchestral composition. He drew particular inspiration from his native region in southern France, and formed a body of post-romantic works richly orchestrated, often inflected with folk-like melodies, and employing Franck's well-known 'cyclic method'. The exclusive Chandos artist Rumon Gamba and the Iceland Symphony Orchestra here return with Volume 4 of Chandos' highly acclaimed series devoted to these unjustly neglected orchestral works. Of Symphony No. 3 on Volume 3, released in 2010, Classic FM said: 'Following their first two much-praised discs, Rumon Gamba and the Iceland Symphony further champion the lushly colourful and impressionistic orchestral music of Vincent d'Indy. It's a fascinating work that mixes straightforward militaristic passages with a high-Romantic, 20th-century language that's part Expressionist, part Impressionist'. Symphonie italienne was written when d'Indy was in his late teens. It was strongly inspired by his travels in Italy, and the four movements bear the respective titles 'Rome', 'Florence', 'Venice', and 'Naples'. Heavily indebted in style to Mendelsohn, Schumann, and Berlioz, this tuneful work was a tremendous if ambitious undertaking for the comparative novice, and shows early signs of the composer's strong intellectual musical mind. D'Indy composed the Symphonie Suite Poème des Rivages, his late orchestral masterpiece, in 1919 - 21. It is a work of outstanding technical accomplishment and poetic inspiration, which succeeds in combining the solid post-Franckian structures with the textual and colouristic fluidity of Debussy. The orchestral forces, including four saxophones, create an almost visual impression of light and atmosphere, in the manner of Claude Monet. Its well-received premiere took place in New York on 1 December 1921 under d'Indy's direction.

Vincent d’Indy's massive Piano Sonata, published in 1907, demands the technique of a virtuoso performer, and rewards close attention no less than better-known examples such as the no less ambitious works from the same time by Dukas and Lekeu. The first movement unfolds as a huge and chromatic set of theme and variations, in which d’Indy’s avowed Wagnerism continually blurs tonal boundaries and erupts into distant keys.

Even larger – almost 20 minutes in length – is the finale, which seems to pick up where the eventful narrative of the first movement left off, presenting a theme which, if not modernist in its development, embraces distant realms with hardly less enthusiasm than the contemporary music of Scriabin. It is left to the central Scherzo to afford some brief and light relief, but even here the angular features of the outer movements recur.

Any seeker of piano rarities and enthusiast for the likes of Alkan and Medtner will want to make the acquaintance of D’Indy’s Piano Sonata, especially in a performance as accomplished as this recording by the young Italian pianist Sofia Andreoli. Her pairing for D’Indy’s Sonata is hardly less original: the set of Promenades composed by Albéric Magnard in 1893.

Magnard was 28 at the time, yet this suite of tone-pictures is hardly ‘youthful’ in tone. Rather, it too belongs to the heady world of French Wagnerism, exploratory and reflective in tone even as its composer wanders the streets of Paris, past the Bois de Boulogne, the Eglise Saint-Germain and the Trianon, before finding its destination in the forest of Rambouillet on the southern edge of the city. There, glinting half-lights and arboreal silence take the listener back to a space of tranquillity, inviting discovery by any adventurous explorer of the late-Romantic piano.

Long’s 1940 recording with Jacques Thibaud, Maurice Vieux and Pierre Fournier is matchless in terms of ardor and urgency, one of the major chamber music recordings of the era.

Undoubtedly the foremost French female pianist of the 20th century, Marguerite Long (1874–1966) prided herself on her personal friendships with some of the foremost composers of her day – Debussy, Fauré and Ravel. She championed their works, premiering, amongst other things, Ravel’s G major piano concerto, and was to write books on the interpretation of each of them. This addition to our continuing French Piano School series is the first of two APR volumes, together containing her complete recordings of French repertoire, and of honorary Frenchman, Chopin.

REVIEW:

French music scholar Roger Nichols does the honors in the booklet essay, with laudable impartiality, for the first volume in APR’s ‘The French Piano School’ series focusing on the legendary pianist and teacher Maguerite Long. This collection is mostly devoted to music by Gabriel Fauré, including the exquisite Nocturne No 6 in D flat major, of which Long herself writes: ‘[Fauré] slides imperceptibly from one key to another through nuances of colour that an impressionist painter would envy.’

Long played the Sixth Barcarolle to Fauré himself, and two recordings of the piece are included as part of APR’s program, the earliest and gentler of the two from 1937, the more emphatic version dating from 20 years later. Likewise in the case of two versions of the Second Impromptu, this time from 1933 and 1957 again, though miraculously there’s very little to choose between them. Two versions of the Ballade in its orchestrated version vary principally in the way they’re recorded, in a relatively dry acoustic for the 1930 recording (under Philippe Gaubert), then with greater warmth 20 years later, where between them André Cluytens and Long stretch the timing by roughly a minute. Still, the crystalline tone of the earlier version holds a special appeal.

Then there are the two piano quartets, Op 15 in C minor with the Pasquier Trio, recorded in 1956, nimble and sensitive, though my own preference would be for the sweeter, edgier version by Robert Casadesus and members of the Calvet Quartet in 1935 (currently out on Scribendum). Turn then to the more tragic Op 45 in G minor, and Long’s 1940 recording with Jacques Thibaud, Maurice Vieux and Pierre Fournier is matchless in terms of ardor and urgency, one of the major chamber music recordings of the era.

Also included is Vincent d’Indy’s colorful Symphonie sur un chant montagnard français (Symphonie cévenole), brilliantly played by Long and expertly conducted by Paul Paray in 1934 – fine sounding, too, given its age. A truly excellent release, superbly transferred.

-- Gramophone