20th Century French Music

[joaosousa]

Hey guys,

Do you know any unknown french music from the 20th Century ? I am not looking for Debussy or Ravel but for lesser known composers such as Widor, Fauré (not know for his piano music), Poulenc (same as Fauré). Thank you.

[visitor]

Tons of talent, Francaix who i have posted ablut decent bit in past is probably one of the most significant of mid.to 2nd half.of 20 cent. Lots of.variety and big piano output

I. Hommage à Handel
II. Hommage à Frédéric Chopin [02:24]
III. Hommage à Domenico Scarlatti ("Couronné par Beethoven et par Mendelssohn, sous le regard complice de Debussy") [05:14]
IV. Hommage à Maurice Ravel [08:34]
V. Petit hommage à la Musique Contemporaine [12:09]
VI. Hommage à Adolphe Adam (de l'Institut) [14:24]

"...composer Jean Françaix, who would have turned 100 years old in 2012, ranks as one of the most important musicians of the 20th century. This applies particularly to his oeuvre for piano, even though it can seldom be heard in the concert hall. This certainly has nothing to do with the quality of the works, but rather with their considerable degree of difficulty on the piano!...:

[visitor]

Ive posted about this guy in past as well, good stuff

[visitor]

DUKAS....
Variations, Interlude et Finale sur un thème de Rameau (1901-2, pub. 1902)

1 Menuet (Le Lardon)
2 Var. I: Tendrement
3 Var. II: Assez vif, très rythmé
4 Var. III: Sans hâte, délicatement
5 Var. IV: Un peu animé, avec légèreté
6 Var. V: Lent
7 Var. VI:  Modéré
8 Var. VII: Assez vif
9 Var. VIII: Très modéré
10 Var. IX: Animé
11 Var. X: Sans lenteur, bien marqué
12 Var. XI: Sombre, assez lent
13 Interlude
14 Finale (Var. XII): Modérément animé

This can go on and on, how much have you researched on your own via google ,wiki, imslp etc, there are a LOT of composers in tge space you defined ,i find it hard to believe you have not come across this info with little more tha  a 30 second targeted search field

[ahinton]

Hey guys,

Do you know any unknown french music from the 20th Century ? I am not looking for Debussy or Ravel but for lesser known composers such as Widor, Fauré (not know for his piano music), Poulenc (same as Fauré). Thank you.

An intersting topic to whose development I look forward but Fauré not known for his piano music? Are you kidding?!...

Best,

Alistair

[visitor]

Still no response from op on if this topic topic is just a way to not do some very basic research since chronology is the only filter, that needs little in way if additional limits, still i had a few in mind i didnt post yesterday ,l will throw a few out there

1:  (0:04) - Prelude
2: (1:08) - Rondo
3: (2:04) Le gai vigneron
4: (2:50) Berceause aux etoiles
5: (4:21) Le Cavalier Sans-Souci
6: (5:28) Parade
7: (6:45) Le promenade en traineau

8: (0:05) Romance
9: (1:28) Quadrille
10: (2:02) Serenade sur l'eau
11: (3:19) La machine a coudre
12: (3:58) L'Adieu
13: (5:39) Les crocus
14: (7:00) Premier bal
15: (7:51) Danse du cocher

[visitor]

If we remove France as birthplace limit and include French heritage instead, i am currently on and off working on a wonderful set of pieces from a neoimpressionist suite.by Michel Bloc [born im Belgium to French Parents], they are most certainly "French" in spirit.
John Bell Young did the only commercially available recording,  few examples below, i treasure my score to these and love learning and playing them and have a goal of making video performances these  to youtube, they are unjustly ignored.
Tragic story w pianist, incredible talent, [did fabulous work w Scriabin pieces etc], suffered a brain injury and not able to play more, so these recordings.are treasures. I WISH JOHN ALL THE BEST AND FUTURE JOY AND HAPPINESS AND HOPE HE CONTINUES TO MAKE RECOVERY INROADS.IN  THE FUTURE.

Young knew Bloc an consulted with him in working these pieces so they are recorded with interpretation having guidance from Bloc himself (i have posted on Bloc in past, with incredible playing if Chopin and Scriabin, folks should read his bio including the story from his performance and the Chopin competition and Rubenstein's vouching for him....).


Note to play them you will need to click into and launch from youtube ad embed playbacknis disabled.

MICHEL BLOCK on MICHEL BLOCK:

"When I wrote Un Beau Jour all those many years ago, it never occurred to me it would survive the many countries and drawers of a life of displacement, let alone find the light of day by being published and now...recorded.
"I must have written it with love, Thomas Labé must have played L'heure rêvée with love and touched the heart of E.L. Lancaster of Alfred Publishing House who was in the audience, inquired about the piece, asked to see the rest of the manuscript and published it. And this published Un Beau Jour must have in turn moved John Bell Young's heart to now record it on this CD.
"Indeed this constellation of events have proven to be the true beau jour of my musical life, inasmuch as not only has everything has naturally, genuinely and effortlessly but -- not surprisingly -- Mammon has not been served. There is obviously no "profit' in this tale, just pleasure and love. This is what happens when, by the Lord's grace, only one Master is served." - Michel Block
Couple other excerpts from the suite, all pieces are really attrractive  miniature tone pictures

This my favorite one, i have the book open to this right now at my piano as i was working some fingering and redistribution of some parts between the hands, lf evenness and quickness is a challenge ,to me at least with.my strengths and such, this is the most challenging as.it exploits some aspects.of technique that i am weakest in, still its a blast, you get.the idea of driving a convertible  sports car w top dow n on a crisp sunnt cool fall morning on some.twisty and hilly backroads.

Here is a nice video.someone recently posted, glad i am not the only one that recognizes this suite ad awesome and worthy of study and performance

"...This piece is impressionistic in nature and often is titled Rendez-vous manqué ,but I prefer the English translation. The introduction and endings contain no time signature or bar lines which leaves a lot of interpretation up to the pianist. As you can imagine from the title, this is one of the saddest pieces I’ve ever played. This is my performance of this piece played on my Yamaha CLP-585..."

[michael_c]

Lili Boulanger

Trois pièces pour piano:

Prélude en Ré bémol:

[visitor]

Severac
Invocation a Schumann

(1904-1911)