Origins C. Koechlin, E. Schulhoff, A. Babadjanian, F
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Origins MENU C. Koechlin, E. Schulhoff, A. Babadjanian, F. Amirov, B. Bartók Toon Fret, Veronika Iltchenko CLASSICAL MENU 2 Fuga Libera Origins FUG 612 Origins MENU C. Koechlin, E. Schulhoff, A. Babadjanian, F. Amirov, B. Bartók Toon Fret, Veronika Iltchenko 3 Credits Tracklist EN FR NL DE Programme notes FUG 612 Recorded Producer in the Blue Hall of deSingel, Antwerp Wim Van Breusegem - EMS MENU 30 July-1 August 2018 Co-producer deSingel https://desingel.be Recording, editing & mastering Piano technician Yannick Willox Moreau Pianoservice www.acousticrecordingservice.be 4 Fuga Libera Artistic Director Editorial Coordinator Jérôme Lejeune Valérie Delforge Design Cover Image Stoëmp Studio Photos @ Julie De Clercq Fuga Libera Origins FUG 612 Origins MENU C. Koechlin, E. Schulhoff, A. Babadjanian, F. Amirov, B. Bartók Toon Fret, Veronika Iltchenko 5 Charles Koechlin (1867-1950) – Quatorze Pièces pour flûte et piano Ervín Schulhoff (1894-1942) – Sonata for flute and piano Arno Babadjanian (1921-1983) – Vagharshapat Dance & Impromptu Fikret Amirov (1922-1984) – Six Pieces for flute and piano Béla Bartók (1881-1945) / Paul Arma – Suite paysanne hongroise for flute and piano Toon Fret: flute Veronika Iltchenko: piano Fuga Libera Origins FUG 612 Charles Koechlin MENU Quatorze Pièces pour flûte et piano 01 . Vieille Chanson. Andante con moto 0’38 02 . Gai, assez animé 0’21 03 . Andante espressivo 0’56 04 . Moderato con moto 0’51 05 . Allegro moderato 0’25 06 . Andante quasi adagio 1’21 07 . Beau soir. Large 1’48 08 . Andantino 0’46 09 . Allegretto con moto 0’50 6 10 . Allegretto quasi Andantino 0’41 11 . Allegretto 0’40 12 . Danse printanière. Allegretto 0’54 13 . Marche funèbre. Andante 2’39 14 . Allegro moderato 0’54 Fuga Libera Origins FUG 612 Ervín Schulhoff MENU Sonata for flute and piano 15 . Allegro moderato 5’42 16 . Scherzo. Allegro giocoso 1’27 17 . Aria. Andante 3’26 18 . Rondo-Finale. Allegro molto gajo 2’36 Arno Babadjanian 19 . Vagharshapat Dance 2’36 20 . Impromptu 5’00 7 Fikret Amirov Six Pieces for flute and piano 21 . Song of the Ashugi 2’09 22 . Lullaby 4’10 23 . Dance 2’02 24 . In the Azerbaijan Mountains 2’56 25 . At the Spring 2’00 26 . Nocturne 2’59 Fuga Libera Origins FUG 612 Béla Bartók - Paul Arma MENU Suite paysanne hongroise for flute and piano Chants populaires tristes 27 . Rubato 1’05 28 . Andante 2’06 29 . Poco rubato 0’41 30 . Andante 4’45 Scherzo. Allegro 0’49 31 Vieilles danses 8 32 . Allegro 0’47 33 . Allegretto 0’50 34 . Allegretto 0’14 35 . L’istesso tempo 0’49 36 . Assai moderato 0’48 37 . Allegretto 0’29 38 . Poco più vivo – Allegretto 0’31 39 . Allegro 0’33 40 . Allegro 1’38 Fuga Libera Origins FUG 612 EN The Origins programme contains discoveries MENU from France, Central Europe and the Caucasus. Bartók joins here four other composers, each of whom has his own musical voice and all of whom were inspired by traditional music. There were several reasons why the talents of these four composers were not recognised sufficiently: Schulhoff’s music was declared degenerate, whilst the Soviet regime halted the distribution of works by Amirov and Babadjanian; 9 the headstrong Koechlin saw his reputation as a composer overshadowed by his work as a theoretician and teacher. The turbulent years between the First and the Second World Wars are clearly audible in these composers’ works. Fuga Libera Origins FUG 612 The collapse of the Austro-Hungarian empire, MENU which encompassed the whole of Central Europe and a section of Eastern Europe and was, therefore, extremely diverse in its cultures, ethnicities, religions and languages, redrew national borders and increased tensions. The avant-garde, Dadaism and jazz also left their imprints on the music of the period: this was also the case with Communism and socialist realism, which Schulhoff and others regarded 10 as an antidote to the rise of German National Socialism. Fuga Libera Origins FUG 612 Charles Koechlin (1867, Paris - 1950, Rayol Canadel) was highly regarded by his MENU colleagues as a composer, teacher, and theoretician. Although his influence on French music was deep and lasting, his works were quickly forgotten. This can be accounted for by his high-handedness and his progressiveness, which at times made him seem a peripheral figure; his reputation as a composer was also overshadowed by his reputation as a theoretician and teacher. Koechlin was initially intended for a military career, but a serious illness forced him to dedicate himself to music. He entered the Conservatoire de Paris in 1889 to study composition under Massenet and Fauré amongst others. His own pupils later were to include two of the Groupe des Six, Poulenc and Tailleferre, and he also influenced Milhaud greatly. Koechlin, along with Ravel and several others, founded the Société musicale indépendante in 1909 with the intention of promoting contemporary music as 11 a reaction to the conservative Société nationale de musique. Erik Satie invited Koechlin to join the group Les Nouveaux Jeunes, to which Roussel and Milhaud had already been invited, in 1918. The project was never realised, but can be considered as the forerunner of the Groupe des Six. He attached great importance to theoretical structure and form, being convinced that a profound knowledge of consonant classical harmony was the essential basis for all study of composition. He had a thorough knowledge of all forms of musical expression, from the Greek modes to atonality; he integrated all of these forms into his own works. He composed a great number of works in varied forms and styles over a period of six decades, counting more than 225 opus numbers. His work is a search for the Fuga Libera Origins FUG 612 ideal and heavenly beauty that he sought out in nature. He regarded his Quintette MENU avec piano (1921) as his most original work; his most well-known work, Le Livre de la Jungle, based on the book by Rudyard Kipling, is a symphonic poem in four movements that was created in Brussels in 1946. Koechlin was also fascinated by the birth of the motion picture; a number of his works are dedicated to and were inspired by the goddesses of the silver screen. He was also a brilliant orchestrator, not only of his own works, but also of works by Fauré (Pelléas et Mélisande) and Debussy (the ballet Khamma). Koechlin composed in a style that was close to Debussy’s, a type of impressionism. His works for flute are very French in character and express discreet emotion without any exaggeration. The Quatorze Pièces pour flûte et piano display all these qualities. It is a lyrical work, extremely elegant and direct, which also gives proof of Koechlin’s skill as a miniaturist: he limits himself to a restrained 12 use of musical means and yet succeeds in creating an individual character and atmosphere for each piece. He composed the Quatorze Pièces for solo flute in April 1936 as his Op. 157; later that month he added a piano part. He dedicated this Op. 157b to the flautist Paul Dommel and his pianist wife, Amy Dommel-Diéry. The work was first performed in part by Koechlin and his friend Jean Merry in 1941. Ervín Schulhoff (1894 - 1942), a Czech Jew of German origin, was born in Prague at the time when the city was still part of the Austro-Hungarian empire. He died in the Bavarian internment camp of Wülzburg. Fuga Libera Origins FUG 612 He was one of the most strikingly original composers of the period between the MENU two World Wars and influenced European music greatly. He was also a virtuoso concert pianist and teacher. His music was almost completely forgotten after his death and it is only since the beginning of the 21st century that it has once more become available to the general public. Schulhoff had a strongly developed social conscience and a sense of his own worth that bordered on arrogance. Thanks to this and to his complicated personal background he was often regarded as an outsider who did not fit in properly. His conscience and his music were strongly influenced by the political events and social movements that he lived through, and in particular WW1, the rise of National Socialism in Germany and the social realism of the Soviet Union. All of these led him to explore many different musical styles and trends. Schulhoff’s first influences came from the music of the previous generation 13 of composers. Classical and baroque forms gave his music structure; late Romanticism, as characterised by the music of Max Reger, who taught Schulhoff composition, is evident in Schulhoff’s use of harmony and emphasis on sound colour. French Impressionism, and in particular his discovery of Debussy and his music, liberated his sense of creative expression, whilst the atonality of the Second Viennese School paved the way for harmonic exploration and experiments with form. He was also one of the first European composers to be inspired by the American jazz styles that flooded Europe and Germany during and after WW1. Schulhoff employed all of these political and musical influences in his own highly individual manner, striving continually for artistic innovation. The rapid development of technology and a euphoric belief in the power of art ignited an unparalleled increase in artistic creativity during the prewar years; this belief was rapidly overturned by the suffering caused by the First World War. Fuga Libera Origins FUG 612 Schulhoff served in the army during that war and returned completely changed, MENU disillusioned and angry at the suffering it had caused. Not only did his political beliefs move further to the left but he also wished to make a total break with the Romanticism of his earlier works; his compositions changed character completely during this time.