Joseph Jongen - Works for Cello and Orchestra (Henri Demarquette)

Information

Composer: Joseph Jongen

1. Concerto pour violoncelle et orcherstre, Op.18: Premier mouvement
2. Concerto pour violoncelle et orcherstre, Op.18: Deuxième mouvement
3. Concerto pour violoncelle et orcherstre, Op.18: Troisième mouvement – Finale
4. Poème No. 1 pour violoncelle et orchestre, Op. 16
5. Poème No. 2 pour violoncelle et orchestre, Op. 46

Henri Demarquette, cello

Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège

Christian Arming, conductor

Date: 2017

Label: Musique en Wallonie

https://www.musiwall.uliege.be/product/joseph-jongen/

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Review

As I have said, Jongen has been faithfully and substantially supported by Musique en Wallonie and another orchestral disc should soon follow from that source. Their Pages Intimes disc has already been reviewed here. For now, though, we can rejoice that the world has this 55-minute assemblage of the music for cello and orchestra even if the Concerto has been recorded before on Cyprès who coupled it with other orchestral works by this composer.

The 1900 Cello Concerto takes after Elgar and D'Indy. It's a turbulent, late-romantic work with a noble line in cello oratory. It's by no means sleepy or turgid; in fact, it's quite chipper. Jongen here plies a nice line in melodic expression which at times verges on the Tchaikovskian. The second movement is morose-pensive and rather Franckian. The mood and colours are subdued with the lower end of the instrumental spectrum much in evidence from the orchestra. The upper - singing - part of the cello's range provides contrast. The finale is fierily dramatic, rising to excitement in something approaching the language of early Sibelius. At 1:49 the clouds part and we get some cheery pirouetting from the cello. Overall this music would make for a meet mood companion to the Dvořák concerto. There's some scintillation for Demarquette at the end and some determined fanfaring drama from the orchestra.

The Poème No. 1 (1899) predates the Concerto by a year. It takes after Franck again with yearning writing that winds and unwinds in rhapsodic style. Quite a short piece at just over eight minutes, it resists the very palm plants and salon world caramel I had expected. I am glad that this work has been revived. As for Poème No. 2 (1916), its pages have not been ruffled by the Great War. If that world conflict is referenced at all it is in the sable elegies of the second half of the score. This speaks with a matt finish rather than a high gloss. At times it sounds a little like Debussy and even Delius. It's a magical piece. Jongen's music is perhaps little old-fashioned for a composer born in 1873 and it has genuine rather than synthesised or forced feeling. If the 1916 Poème No. 2 makes rhapsodic progress it is certainly very appealing and again Jongen draws down sentiment rather than sentimentality. These works will go well with the later cello and orchestra works of Florent Schmitt (Timpani 1C1212) and André Caplet (EMI Classics) if sounding agreeably dated beside those works. These two Poèmes are not to be forgotten by cellists and producers assembling recitals of short pieces for cello and orchestra to join the productions of Sibelius, Bridge, Vieuxtemps and Popper.

It was not so long ago that I heard Henri Demarquette in a Sony disc of Michel Legrand's equally singing Cello Concerto. For Jongen he expends his energies productively. This is all to the profit of adventurous listeners after Demarquette as the champion cello voice for Timpani.

The CD slips into the front pocket of the miniature hardback production which boasts 45 pages, including Pirenne's admirable note in French, English, Flemish and German.

Demarquette and this ever-dedicated orchestra under Christian Arming introduce another chapter in the music of Joseph Jongen.

-- Rob Barnett, MusicWeb International

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Joseph Jongen (14 December 1873 – 12 July 1953) was a Belgian organist, composer, and music educator. From his teens to his seventies Jongen composed a great deal, including symphonies, concertos, chamber music and songs. In 1897, he won the Belgian Prix de Rome, which allowed him to travel to Italy, Germany and France. His list of opus numbers eventually reached 241, but he destroyed a good many pieces. His monumental Symphonie Concertante of 1926 is considered by many to be among the greatest works ever written for organ and orchestra, being championed and recorded by numerous eminent organists.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Jongen

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Henri Demarquette (born 1970) is a French classical cellist. Demarquette entered at the age of 13 the Conservatoire de Paris where he studied with Philippe Muller and Maurice Gendron. Later he worked with Pierre Fournier and Paul Tortelier, before taking lessons from Janos Starker in Bloomington, USA. Demarquette made his concert debut at seventeen with a recital at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris and a recording for France 3 Television with pianist Hélène Grimaud. His career has been international ever since. Demarquette plays "le Vaslin", cello manufactured by Stradivarius in 1725 with a Persois bow dated 1820.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Demarquette

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