GRIEG: THE GREAT ROMANTIC

D’un matin de printemps is dated 1917–18 and it demonstrates the more adventurous and astringent style that Boulanger had previously developed with her settings of Psalms. In spite of a meteoric rise (winning the Prix de Rome in 1912), Boulanger had been troubled by ill health since childhood, and she died on 15 March 1918 at the age of twenty-four. Her surviving works are all the more poignant for their hints of what might have been, particularly in this work which seems to suggest a fascinating point of departure.

© Nigel Simeone

This is one of Lili Boulanger’s first pieces, written in 1911, two years before her victory in the Prix de Rome for composition. Her early death at the age of twenty-four robbed the world of a composer whose mature music – from the last five years of her short life – is notable for its startling originality and stark beauty. That mixture of sensuousness and austerity can be heard even in this early work with its hints of Debussy and of the elegant restraint of her teacher, Fauré.

© Nigel Simeone

i. Allegro
ii. Adagio molto espressivo
iii. Scherzo. Allegro molto
iv. Rondo. Allegro ma non troppo

The ‘Spring’ Sonata was written in 1800 and first published the following year, originally as the second of a pair of sonatas. Both are dedicated to Moritz von Fries, a banker with an expensive lifestyle (leading to his eventual bankruptcy) and excellent taste in music and art. Beethoven was a regular guest at Fries’s home and as well as the Op. 23 and Op. 24 Violin Sonatas, Fries was also the dedicatee of the Seventh Symphony. The origins of the nickname are obscure, but ‘Spring’ is a very apt choice for this genial work. After the lyrical first movement, the Adagio molto espressivo is a deeply felt song without words, including some elaborate decorations. The Scherzo lives up to its name: a clever and tricky rhythmic joke that plays with the audience’s expectations – and it is also one of Beethoven’s shortest sonata movements. The Rondo is one of Beethoven’s most gentle and unhurried finales, bringing this most radiant of his violin sonatas to an amiable close. The ‘Spring’ Sonata is the first of Beethoven’s violin sonatas to be in four movements (its four predecessors are all in three movements) and it is a work of effortless ingenuity as well as boundless charm.

© Nigel Simeone

Debussy composed his first set of twelve Préludes in an intense burst of creative activity between 7 December 1909 and 4 February 1910 (the manuscript of La cathédrale engloutie is one of only three in the set not to have a precise date). The whole set was published in April 1910 and Debussy himself gave the first public performance of La cathédrale engloutie on 5 May 1910. In this piece, which moves from the mysterious to the majestic and back again, Debussy conjures up the mythical city of Ys, long sunken into the sea, and its cathedral which was said to rise above the waves at certain times. By calling it a ‘prélude’, Debussy was returning to ostensibly traditional forms (he was subsequently to write études and three sonatas), while remaining daringly original, evoking the sounds of bells, chanting, and a noble organ-like climax. However, the title is only printed at the end of the piece – emphasising that the piece was intended, first of all, to be heard and understood without needing to rely on a specific programme.

© Nigel Simeone

Elegy for Ukraine was composed in March 2022 especially for the recorderist John Turner. The outer sections are based on a modal prayer-like melody, whilst the central section is more agitated with the piano depicting a mysterious, flowing river. Fragments of two Ukrainian laments are woven into the piece: ‘Plyve Kacha Po Tysyni’ [the duckling swims in the Tisza] and ‘In the Grove, by the Danube’. An adapted version exists for violin.

© Jeremy Pike

i. Allegro molto ed appassionato
ii. Allegretto espressivo alla Romanza – Allegro molto – Tempo I
iii. Allegro animato

Composed in 1886–7, this is the last of Grieg’s sonatas for violin and piano. When work was being prepared by publication by Peters in Leipzig, an editor wrote on the title page of the manuscript: ‘Bold and exuberant – the way I like it!’ It was a shrewd assessment of one of Grieg’s finest pieces of chamber music, composed during a golden age of violin and piano sonatas (Brahms, Franck and Fauré were writing theirs at around the same time as Grieg). In 1886, Grieg wrote to his publisher about a brilliant young violinist called Teresina Tua whose playing inspired him to finish the first draft in January 1887. A few months later Grieg played the work through with the violinist Johan Halvorsen and made some revisions. The first performance was given in Leipzig by Adolf Brodsky (Halvorsen’s teacher) on 10 December 1887, with Grieg at the piano. The Sonata was dedicated to the artist Franz von Lenbach. Grieg was delighted with the work and it remained a favourite of his.

After a passionate C minor opening, the first movement includes a gentler contrasting theme in E flat major. The second movement begins with a lyrical piano solo in E major, which gives way to a faster section that recalls Norwegian folk music. The main theme of the finale – from which much of what follows is derived – is first heard over a delicate piano ostinato. The sonata ends with this same theme presented in a blaze of C major.

© Nigel Simeone