JEAN FRANÇAIX: The Music for Solo Piano, Duo and Duet – [TrackList follows] – Martin Jones/Richard McMahon/Adrian Farmer, pianos – Nimbus Records NI5880 UHJ Ambisonic (3-CDs: 59:23; 64:48; 66:54) [Distr. by Allegro] ****:
Although Francaix is known for his many chamber works, especially those involving winds—written in a delightful sparkling and witty French style—he was a piano pupil of Nadia Boulanger and attended the Paris Conservatoire and was renowned as a piano composer and performer. Though he wrote over 200 works, the piano has an important position in his opera, and his many works for it are charming, possessing great clarity of form. Some have compared his objective approach to Ravel.
This is a wonderful collection of most of Francaix’s piano music, covering a period of 65 years and including even his very last piano piece: La Promenade of 1987. There are over three hours of stylish and colorful Gaelic piano music here. The first of the three CDs is entirely solo piano works performed by Martin Jones. The short Sonate pour piano is a standout here. Disc 2 opens with 8 Exotic Dances for 2 pianos, followed by 15 Children’s Portraits by Renoir for piano 4 hands. The other works on this disc are for solo piano. The third CD opens with a Versailles piano suite in which two of the 11 movements are for piano 4 hands. The other two works are completely for piano 4 hands: Napoléon suite and Scuola di Ballo on themes of Boccherini.
As with most Nimbus releases, these are UHJ Ambisonic-encoded CDs, which provide a quite pleasing surround field when using Dolby ProLogic II, although not as accurate as with a dedicated Ambisonic decoder such as included in Meridian components or the Cantares processor. In fact, you may find the micing sounds too distant and with too much ambience if you play as a two-channel recording.
TrackList:
- Scherzo
- Cinq portraits de jeunes filles
- Eloge de la danse
- Piano Sonata
- Cinq “Bis”
- Danse des Trois Arlequins
- Huit Variations sur le nom de Johannes Gutenberg
- Nocturne
- Huit danses exotiques *
- Portraits d’enfants d’Auguste Renoir **
- Trois esquisses sur les touches blanches
- La Promenade d’un Musicologue Eclectique
- De la Musique avant tout chose
- Pour Jacqueline
- Si Versailles m’était conté…
- Napoléon **
- Scuola di Ballo *
—John Sunier
