G. Catoire, Quatre Morceaux, Op. 12, No. 1, "Chant du soir"

[rachfan]

The Russian late romanticist Georgy Catoire published his Quatre Morceaux, Op. 12 in 1901.  Here I’ve posted No. 1, the “Chant du soir”.  This is just that, a song of evening, not a nocturne per se, as there is also a nocturne included in the set.  This “Chant” begins with a simple, plaintive and searching motif, but as the piece develops, there are some rapturous moments too.  It draws to a lovely close with one of Catoire’s signature codas.  This piece in one way reminds me of the Mendelssohn Songs without Words in that its very simplicity is its supreme difficulty.  A mistake becomes all too apparent and the pianist has no place to hide within the thin textures while performing this music.  I do hope you’ll enjoy hearing it!

The piano was tuned yesterday, and it may sound a bit sharp to you.  It is.  In the northern winters, the cold temperatures pull down the relative humidity as well, and tunings tend to slide flat.  A useful strategy is to tune sharp to counteract that tendency.  I hope by the end of March the piano can return to A440, as that its best voice.    

Piano: Baldwin Model L Artist Grand (6’3”) with lid raised on the singer prop.
Recorder: Korg MR-1000
Mics: Matched pair of Earthworks TC20 small diaphragm, omni-directional condenser mics in A-B configuration

Comments welcome!

[furtwaengler]

It's always a good day when David releases some Catoire! This finds you milking in the luscious romantic warmth of this beautiful chant. It's really the most overflowing example of this in Catoire I've noticed so far, other than the etude Koji posted. Its got a glow and a flexibility to it...well, I'm actually quite bowled over!

And to my ears the piano (and the recording!) sounds great.

(Whew...I actually broke a piano in Providence last week. "Winter was hard..") 

Dave

[rachfan]

Hi Dave,

Thanks for listening!  I'm happy that you enjoyed this recording so much.  Yes, this is the ultra-romantic Catoire at his best.  I did make a couple of minor fluffs in there to be honest, both totally avoidable, but luckily they sound more like small "liberties" than errors.  I like to play with freedom and take risks, as it makes for a more exciting performance overall.  As you probably recall, although I have the software, I patently refuse to edit my recordings, so I do several "takes" and then decide which is the best of the lot.  Now I've started work on No. 2, the "Meditation", another beautiful piece.

You mentioned Koji playing the "Etude-fantastique".  That piece is No. 4 in this very same Op. 12.  I've begun working on it in parallel with the others.  By the time I'm solely focused on preparing the etude, I'll probably need people here praying over me.  It's a very virtuosic piece, so I hope I'll be up to its demands.

Thanks again!

David

[goldentone]

Hi Rachfan,

Catoire is more relaxed here in this dreamier offering.  The very opening sounds improvisational--I can hear Wolfi playing those opening bars.  I enjoy the transformation of the piece.  Catoire is so original that I could never guess its unfolding.  I really enjoy the soothing, peaceful romantic atmosphere.  And it's not bereft of Catoire's drama.  I didn't hear any blemishes, and that is one advantage in being the purveyor of music that is first to touch the ears.  You play it beautifully, Rachfan.  These are always worth the wait.  

[ted]

That is a very beautiful piece of music and your affinity with its spirit is very clear. I don't really think there is much more to be said about it. Your playing of Catoire's music has shot into another class with this post.  You have put in an enormous amount of thought and work over the last few months and now a breakthrough has occurred. Enjoy it, you deserve it.

[rachfan]

Hi goldentone,

Yes, that very pensive opening leaves one wondering where things will lead. Catoire was never at a loss write lush music, and here is yet another very beautiful example.  On your not hearing any blemishes, it's interesting because I just listened to the recording a day later, and I don't hear them either. I believe that we're so critical of our own playing that if something is a micrometer off, we tend to magnify it in our minds.  So today I can enjoy the recording much as you do.  I agree with you on Catoire's originality.  He was very imaginative and one can never predict where he'll take the performer or listener next.  I'm glad you enjoyed this work, and appreciate your compliments on my playing.

[rachfan]

Hi Ted,

I took longer preparing this piece than expected.  When I first picked up the score to analyze it away from the piano, on paper it looked like a walk in the park to me.  Far from it!  There is a huge emphasis on analyzing each note as to function.  Voicing has to occur not only to generally separate foreground from background and to voice chords and strategic harmonies, but there are also moments when the melodic runs a gauntlet through competing harmonic notes, so following the voice leading through the polyphony becomes key.  Pedaling also becomes crucial in this quest for clarity.  Thus, in playing this piece you literally have to listen carefully to every note. I found that to bring out the magic of the piece, it all had to do with producing clarity.  Catoire puts up a red warning flag on this need for clarity in the very first measure of the piece, and from there on he doesn't make it any easier on the pianist. Catoire always thinks at a high level of complexity.  He must have been a superb professor of composition in his day!  I have read that other professors at the Moscow Conservatory were overjoyed to take students who had studied with Catoire and were referred to them by him.  Thanks for your kind words on my playing!  

[rob47]

rachfan what a great piece and performance

although i don't know the piece or have the score what i felt was that every note you play had direction and purpose and created nice singing lines.  for me, the more notes and textures and lines there are the more lost i get (rach 1st sonata good example if you recall), and i really, really admire how in the most dense parts of this piece, your performance stays very coherent and beautiful.  Anyway always great to listen to your playing and excellent musicianship.
How far north do you live>?

rob

[rachfan]

Hi rob,

I couldn't be more flattered by your kind comments because you touched on the exact effect I was trying to achieve here.  That is, my main goal was to strive for ultimate clarity of line.  It's not always easy in this "Chant" by Catoire, and he puts up a red flag in the very first measure to warn the unknowing pianist.  The melody is in the LH there, yet the RH cohabits one of the notes!  That was my very first clue that this would not be a walk in the park.  So I vowed I would listen carefully to every note I played, taking into account each one's intended function. I attended to voicing, following voice leading, bringing out the tenutos, and pedaling for clarity as well, especially with the half-pedal releases. The only harmonic and lush overtones in the recording are pretty much those that add to the listening experience.  It was not easy, because sometimes the cantilena wends and weaves through a gaggle of harmonic notes in the passagework.  So this often meant layering the sound.  Most of all I tried to play the long line throughout the entire piece.  

Catoire was an absolutely ingenious composer.  At the Moscow Conservatoire, the faculty members were delighted whenever Catoire would refer a student to them, as they knew that the student had been trained exceptionally well.  I hope that over time more PS members will listen to this repertoire, not for my playing so much as to luxuriate in the ravishing beauty of Catoire's exquisite music.  I must say that he's taught me a lot about pianism and musicianship and continues to do so.  (He's a terribly demanding and tough task master though! )    

Thanks so much for listening and you comments.    

P.S.  I live in central-eastern Maine.

[furtwaengler]

Do you ever have to shovel your roof? 

[rachfan]

You're pretty close.  We have a ranch house.  The roof is asphalt shingles.  So when it snows I always go out with what we call a "roof rake" here.  It's like a small plastic plow with the concave side facing the user at the other end of an 18 foot boom.  So standing  on terra firma at one end of the front of the house where it meets the garage, I position the rake about 3 feet above and beyond the edge of the roof and pull/drag all the snow off with the rake and keep moving along as I do that.  If there will be freezing rain toward the end of a storm, I have to get outside before that happens, otherwise an icecap will form over the snowfall preventing raking.  The purpose is to keep the edge of the roof free and clear of ice dams so that any snow melt can easily drain off the roof.  Even with sheets of ice and water barrier installed underneath the shingles, an ice dam could cause a roof leak as the barrier is not guaranteed to be infallible.  When arctic fronts follow storms, sometimes I'm out there in single numbers with the wind blowing.    

During the last week's storm that gave us 14 inches, I was out there three times during the two and a half days it was snowing, raking the roof as the storm progressed and a fourth time once it had stopped. (It's easier to rake 5" at a time than to deal with 14".)  A plowing service does our long circular driveway.  So the shoveling part for me is limited to the front and rear entrances and the path for the oil delivery man.  I'd much rather be playing the piano!  

We have only two seasons here, Winter and Preparing for Winter.

  

[furtwaengler]

David, I am in the south and I don't envy you! In Providence a couple weeks ago I learned about relativity. In Tennessee 2 inches of snow will shut our little town down. Schools have been closed at the forecast of flurries. In Providence we were dealing with a passing storm and the ploughing and shoveling that came with it, but everything kept moving along, and indeed there was hardly a person missing at the greater Providence church which is just a relatively small group of people who have rented the Blackstone Valley Historical Society Building to meet...a place with almost no parking. And then another night many braved the elements to come to a New Years party at my cousin's house in Woonsocket. It was there that her husband revealed after shoveling the walk and chopping wood for the stove, "But I would never want to live in Maine...Any place where you've got to shovel your roof..."

Relativity. 

[rachfan]

Hi Dave,

I hear you on relativity.  My wife and I were born in Massachusetts and lived there the longest.  Winters there were mild (although we didn't know that at the time).  Then we moved north to extreme southern New Hampshire bordering Massachusetts where the winters were a bit more challenging.  But a Maine winter is an entirely different world.  We put snow tires on the cars and still move around in some snowstorms except for the blizzards.  Fall arrives early here and spring comes very late.  As I write this it's 10 degrees and falling.  It takes a lot of getting used to winter conditions here.  But you know the worst of it?  Because the east coast curves eastward, we hate Eastern Standard Time.  It turns out that eastern Maine is on the extreme leading edge of EST.  So in summer the birds get you up at 3:30 a.m. and it's getting light by 4:00.  Nightfall comes earlier around 8:00.  In winter it starts to get dark around 3:15 p.m.  In the summer we love vacationing in New Brunswick which is instead on Atlantic Time.  It feels way more like MA and NH with the sun coming up and setting at "normal" hours.  If Maine could be on Atlantic Time, it would be so much better.  The state legislature entertained the idea a few years ago, but rejected it.     

David