Format : Part
Of all his early chamber works the 'Nocturne' is most clearly by the mature Vaughan Williams almost anticipating the influence of Ravel which followed his lessons from the French composer in 1908. In the veiled beauty of its highly chromatic harmonies we hear already the tone-poet of the slow movement of 'A London Symphony' while in the fleet-footed 'Scherzo' there is already a French influence in the way the folk-song is subtly woven into the texture only brief snatches of the tune being heard until the penultimate page when it receives fuller treatment. The work plays for about 10 minutes. The 1904 'Scherzo' is a vigorous march with fugal episodes which lasts some 6minutes and may effectively be performed by itself.
SKU: HL.48186484
UPC: 888680828844. 9x12 inches.
“English Horn (or flute or clarinet or alto), Violin & Cello Rarely has a musical work been better characterized by its subtitle than Nicolas Bacri's Lyric Interlude: 'A Study in Pastoral Style'. When, in 2008, the composer received the commission for a piece with English horn from Cecilia Benner, patron of the Chamber Music Society of Detroit, he immediately thought of the duo between this instrument and the oboe that Berlioz, in the Symphonie fantastique, placed at the beginning of the 'Scène aux champs', making suddenly appear a nocturnal country landscape where two shepherds carry on a dialogue on their pipes. First performed in March 2009 at one of the Scarab Club Concerts in Detroit, the Lyric Interlude for English horn, violin and cello (Op.110a) nonetheless proclaims another tradition: that of British pastoralism, illustrated by the music of Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958), the 50th anniversary of his death having just been celebrated. This score pays him homage of rare sensitivity: set off by refined counterpoint, the undulating lament of the beginning, rhythmically supple, evokes the waving wheat, as does Vaughan Williams in the opening undulation of his Symphony No.3. The lyrical effusion, briefly interrupted by a scherzo in 6/8, again pours out, making the work evolve towards a slow, ecstatic atmosphere, close to the last of the English composer's Three Preludes on Welsh Hymn Tunes. Far from bucolic, postcard clichés and servile imitation, this Lyric Interlude opens the doors to a realm where pure beauty reigns. The composer also wrote another version of this work for English horn (or flute, clarinet, or viola) and piano, Op.110b (AL 30 750)&rdquo.
