French Music for String Orchestra

Honegger, Arthur;
Saint-Saëns, Camille;
Koechlin, Charles;
Lekeu, Guillaume

Ciconia Consort;
Gasteren, Dick van

95734

The first modern recording of a gripping 20th-century masterpiece for strings. The name of Jacques Castérède (1926-2014) may not be well known outside his native France, but the taut and compelling Symphony for strings which he wrote at the age of 26 – his first major work – deserves far wider recognition. Tension runs high throughout the opening Modéré before breaking into a violent Scherzo in the manner of Bartok’s Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta. Shostakovich and indeed the Second Symphony of Arthur Honegger may be called to mind by the impassioned lyricism of the slow movement, which rises from darkness before discovering a point of radiant transfiguration in the movement’s coda. Restless counterpoint brings the finale to an exhilarating, emphatic conclusion.

Works:

• Castérède: Symphony No. 1
• Honegger: Hymne
• Honegger: Symphony No. 2 in D for strings and trumpet
• Koechlin: Sur les flots lointains, Op. 130
• Lekeu: Adagio for Strings
• Saint-Saëns: Sarabande et Rigaudon, Op. 93

CD

Muzyka klasyczna

Brilliant Classics

13-11-2019

5028421957340