G. Catoire, Chants du Crepuscule, Op. 24, No. 1

[rachfan]

Georgy Catoire composed his Chants du Crepuscule (Songs of Twilight), Op. 24 in 1914.  The “Chant No. 1” in D#, marked En revant as well as sempre rubato, is a lyrical and intimate reverie.  (Nos. 2, 3 and 4 were posted here previously, so No. 1 completes the set!)  Catoire actually composed two reveries, the other one to be found in the earlier Cinq Morceaux, Op. 10 dated 1899.  The reverie at hand has the typical difficulties to be found in Catoire’s idiom—constant polyrhythms, ubiquitous ties, syncopations, hand-offs of the melody between hands, long-line phrases, short cadenzas, etc.  Some of these devices serve to keep the music a bit off center, thereby suggesting the sensation of dreaming.  I hope you’ll enjoy this piece.

Comments welcome.

Piano: Baldwin Model L Artist Grand (6’3”).  
Recorder: Korg MR-1000
Mics: Earthworks TC20 matched pair of small diaphragm omni-directional condenser microphones

[ronde_des_sylphes]

I'm really rather taken with the piece, and your playing is excellent. Thank you for having posted this series of recordings.

[rachfan]

Hi ronde,

Thanks for listening and your kind comments!  There are many complexities in this "Chant No. 1", making it a difficult piece to play well.  Although I made a couple of errors in my recording, I believe that this rendition conveys Catoire's intentions.  I feel a strong affinity to this composer, so as my next project, I'll be continuing with this astonishing repertoire.  Thanks again!

[goldentone]

Hi Rachfan,

A beautiful idyllic opening.  If these Chants are a record of Catoire's soul, it was definitely a rich and complex one.  This is a gorgeous lyric and you play it most expressively and with so much beauty.  Every new recording seems like deja vu--I think you may have outdone yourself again.  I'm very impressed with your artistry.  Exquisite.  

[rachfan]

Hi goldentone,

Thanks so much for your very laudatory comments!  I very much appreciate that.  Yes, this music can be very intoxicating.  I was thinking last night that where this set opens with this lovely reverie, it might actually be setting the stage for the other pieces that follow.  They too might be other dream episodes.  So rather than thinking of the Songs of Twilight as the state between light and darkness, perhaps what Catoire had in mind was the zone between wakefulness and sleep.  In either case, this repertoire has quite a hold on me now.  I'm off now to another opus! 

[lontano]

Racfan, I won't repeat all the well-deserved accolades written before, other than to say "Thank you, very much!". It's a pleasure hearing you perform these fine works. I hope to hear many more!

Lontano

[rachfan]

Hi lontano,

Thanks for listening, and I greatly appreciate your comments.  Catoire is not Chopin, so I find that I have a very small--but enthusiastic--audience when I play works from this obscure corner of the repertoire.  But the music is absolutely superb and I find it irresistible.  That alone makes it all worthwhile.  You'll be glad to know that I'm still working on the Catoire pieces to share them and raise awareness of this great composer.  So yes, more to come later.  Thanks again!    

[birba]

Wonderful.  Absolutely wonderful.  Who publishes this music, may I ask?

[rachfan]

Hi birba,

Thanks for listening and your nice comments.  You may have noticed that further down this page you can listen to the Chants du Crepuscule, Op. 24 as a complete set, if you haven't checked it out already.  Also at the top of this page is the Index to Audition Room.  If you click that and go to Catoire, you can hear my renditions of the Four Preludes, Op. 17 complete set.  All these pieces are incredible.

Unfortunately, Catoire's music is no longer published in our day.  The Soviet Ministry of Culture ignored Catoire during his lifetime, as his late-romantic idiom did not support their notion of socialistic ideals in art.  After his death in 1926, they did permit one thin volume to be published in 1928 which is now long out of print.  So the sad fact is that in Russia his music was never reprinted and recirculated.  Nor was it reprinted elsewhere.  It would not surprise me if some Russian pianists today may have never heard Catoire's music, even though he was Russian born. University and conservatory students do, however, encounter his writings on composition.  As a result, we have to struggle with scanned copies of the original editions, in this case Edition Russe de Musique, in PDF format. These can be found at the IMSLP site.  Koji Attwood has played some Catoire, and Marc-Andre Hamelin also made a CD of some of it a few years ago.  As far as I can tell from the various piano sites, I'm the only one recording Catoire's piano solo music at the moment.  I very much appreciate your interest in this music!