French Piano Music

[GJF323]

Duvernoy Alphonse op.8 n1 Ballade.pdf

BTW, does anyone know of boutiques in Paris where I can search for scores? Should be there in September and would like to return home with fresh scanning material.

[Jean-Séb]

BTW, does anyone know of boutiques in Paris where I can search for scores? Should be there in September and would like to return home with fresh scanning material.

Thank you very much for Duvernoy.
You can refer to this old message of mine for shops in Paris :
viewtopic.php?f=47&t=871&p=18195&hilit= ... ome#p18195

[4candles]

I have just come across this post at IMSLP.

I was very interested to see that the piece, by Louise Farrenc, is a set of variations on Luther's chorale 'A Mighty Fortress is Our God' - which (I'm assuming by the opus number) predates Alkan's great work for pedal piano by some years. I can't tell if it's as accomplished as the Alkan work, but it's interesting to note nonetheless.

http://imslp.org/wiki/Souvenir_des_Hugu ... _Louise%29

[GJF323]

You can refer to this old message of mine for shops in Paris :
viewtopic.php?f=47&t=871&p=18195&hilit= ... ome#p18195

Many thanks for linking the thread. There are many nooks and crannies of the site that I haven't visited, evidently. I will try at least some of these places on my vacation.

Meanwhile Duvernoy's op.8 continues...

Duvernoy Alphonse op.8 n6 Impetus.pdf

[GJF323]

Duvernoy Alphonse op.8 n2 Sérénade.pdf

[GJF323]

Duvernoy Alphonse op.8 n4 Promenade.pdf

[GJF323]

The last of Duvernoy's op.8 and the last of the Duvernoy scores I have at the moment.

Duvernoy Alphonse op.8 n3 Queen Mab.pdf

[Jean-Séb]

Thank you very much for this music not frequently found.

[caostotale]

Here are some Milhaud pieces from points in his mid-career:

Darius MILHAUD
Waltzes (3) from Madame Bovary, op. 128c (1933)

Milhaud - Waltzes (3) from Madame Bovary, op. 128c (1933).pdf

From Allmusic:

Never one prone to waste, Milhaud, like many of his illustrious predecessors, believed in musical "recycling." One particularly fertile ground for this was his incidental music. Perhaps the most famous example is one of the composer's most popular works, the Scaramouche suite. Another instance concerns music he wrote for the film Madame Bovary (adapted by Jean Renoir from Flaubert's novel of the same title). From the film score, Milhaud produced three sets of pieces: for piano, L'album de Madame Bovary, Op. 128b; the Valses (3) de Madame Bovary, Op. 128c; for voice and piano, the Chansons (2), Op. 128d. Listeners expecting something along the lines of La création du monde or Scaramouche may be disappointed. As appropriate to the film, these works are unashamedly romantic, looking back to the nineteenth century. The Valses (3) exhibit an appropriate -- though for Milhaud rather restricted -- harmonic palette. Strong tonal movement is the rule, particularly in the first mellifluous waltz. Textures are usually homophonic, with three to four voices. Occasionally, a thinness of texture results that recalls that these waltzes were originally written for an orchestral medium and had been transcribed for piano by the composer. Firmly in B flat major, the first waltz is the most tonally traditional. Combined with tonal movement, changes of register help delineate the different sections. Melody is quite conjunct, graceful, and refined. The melodic theme is transferred to the bass in the penultimate (C) section. A four-note melodic motive initially heard in the first bar returns again and again, significantly helping move the waltz along. A rather romantic, sentimental, and fluid character help distinguish the second waltz. The melody is exclusively heard in the top voice and melodic movement is predominantly by sequence. Its pentatonic quality allows for alteration without inappropriate dissonance resulting. In its nine sections, the second waltz is somewhat rondo-like. The A sections mostly stick to tonic-dominant territory in the home key of G flat, while the B sections explore other areas. In the A section, however, a modulation to A major via enharmonic equivalents takes place, working its way back to G flat by way of secondary dominants. The third waltz is the most ornate of the three, with trills, grace notes, and other ornaments decorating the rather mercurial and occasionally syncopated melody. Melodic motion greatly contributes to the sense of rhythmic flexibility, kept moving by a steady flow of eighth notes. Dynamics help articulate the symmetrical form that outlines a D major triad. The chromatic bass line of the A section is remarkably similar to one employed in the "Romance," the seventh number in L'album de Madame Bovary.

Darius MILHAUD
Le candélabre à sept branches, op. 315 (1951)

Milhaud - Le candélabre à sept branches, op. 315 (1951).pdf

Whilst the first piece finds Milhaud writing for one of the great stories in French literature, this presents an entirely different cultural dimension of his output. Milhaud made his first trip to the State of Israel in 1952 for a music festival, at which his Candelabre à Sept Branches (Seven branched candelabra), for piano, was premiered. That same year, he composed a cantata, Les Miracles de la Foi (The miracles of faith), as well as a five-act opera ("David"), which premiered in 1954 in Jerusalem and then was performed in 1955 at La Scala in Milan. I couldn't find much as far as critical discussion on this work and it was actually excluded from a three-disc set of Milhaud's piano works, perhaps because the score is not as easy to acquire.

[Jean-Séb]

Thank you for these unusual Milhaud pieces.