ANDRE MATHIEU: Piano Concerto No. 4 in E minor; Ballet Scenes; Four Songs for Choir and Orchestra – Alain Lefevre, piano/Tucson Symphony Orchestra/George Hanson/Tucson Symphony Orch. Chorus/Bruce Chamberlain – Analekta AN 2 9281 [Distr. by Koch] *****:
Andre Mathieu, who lived until 1968, was one of Canada’s well-known classical composers. He had been a child prodigy who was called a “little Canadian Mozart.” His works are mostly in a style of modern Romanticism and full of compelling melody. Some of his music was arranged for the Montreal Olympics, and the composer was a frequent performer on the CBC. He had studied in Paris in the late 1930s and in 1946 he returned to study with Honegger and a piano pedagogue, but unlike the positive experiences of most North American composers, his European trip was not productive and he returned to Montreal. He succumbed to alcoholism and died at age 39.
Canadian pianist Alain Lefevre has performed many of Mathieu’s piano works. It was following a performance in the hall in Quebec City named after the composer – of his popular Concerto de Québec – that Lefevre was approached by a lady who said she had been the last girlfriend of Mathieu and wanted Lefevre to have five vinyl records of his music which had not been published. The major work on them was the Piano Concerto No. 4. Lefevre had composer-conductor Gilles Bellemare – who had revised other Mathieu scores – listen to the discs and reconstruct a workable score for piano and orchestra from them.
The result is a stirring three movement (fast-slow-fast) piano concerto of great beauty, striking melody and a strong impression of improvisation which runs thru much of Mathieu’s music. Its final movement is shorter than the other two and marked Allegro con fuoco. It lives up to its designation, and although the whole concerto is in a thoroughly tonal style it doesn’t call up strong associations with other piano concerto composers but seems quite original. It surely would grace any concert program and receive strong acclaim from audiences. The other two Mathieu works are interesting but lack the impact of the concerto. The composer himself wrote the poem for the first of the four songs, with two of the others being by Verlaine.
Since American-based labels now don’t often record American orchestras, we should be grateful that Analekta came down from Québec to record this delightful music in Tucson. Sonics are fine and the notes interesting, though they seem to be written for Canadians already familiar with Mathieu because they tell us little about the composer.
– John Sunier
