More than a century ago,
Debussy and
Ravel were France's most talked-about composers. Their piano music alone was groundbreaking. But it is not about this piano music here. Pianist Eric le Sage presents an anthology of what you might call piano music of the second garnish. This is not a negative judgment, for even in this less revolutionary music we find an excess of charm, imagination and profundity.
Many of these composers could be characterized as marine or landscape painters. Jacques Ibert was certainly not the only one with sea legs here. Jean Cras also served as a naval officer. He even had a piano in his cabin, the size of which (we are told) was adapted to conditions at sea. In La Maison dans les Dunes, Gabriel Dupont struggled with bedriddenness due to tuberculosis. In Hivernale, Reynaldo Hahn painted the surroundings of Versailles. And so it continues in this program, which has an excess of beauty and tenderness. Germaine Tailleferre was therefore too modest with her comment, "I make music for pleasure, although I know it is not great music. (HJ)more
