Information
Composer: Charles Koechlin; Albéric Magnard; Charles-Marie Widor
- Magnard - Cello Sonata in A major, Op. 20
- Koechlin - Chansons bretonnes sur d'anciennes chansons populaires, Op. 115 - Book III
- Widor - Cello Sonata in A major, Op. 80
Mats Lidström, cello
Bengt Forsberg, piano
Date: 2003
Label: Hyperion
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This excellent duo set off on another rewarding journey along French byways
An out-of-the-way programme, maybe, but the music isn’t uninteresting or second rate, and Lidström and Forsberg’s established expertise in performing French music makes for an issue that’s well worth exploring. They’ve already recorded the first two books of Koechlin’s Chansons Bretonnes for Hyperion (8/98), but were unaware that he had left a third set until his son presented them with a copy. Koechlin uses the simple, often modal, folk material most imaginatively, to create a series of miniature character pieces; intense, declamatory movements alternating with evocations of an austere medieval world.
Of the two sonatas, the Widor is by some way the more ingratiating and decorative. Its predominately lyrical style, with subtle, shifting harmonies and elaborate piano writing, put me in mind, oddly, of Rachmaninov, but a Rachmaninov where the sombre melancholy is replaced by bright, positive feelings, especially in the rhapsodic finale. Bengt Forsberg is extremely impressive here, combining virtuosity in the Lizstian tradition with playing of extreme delicacy.
The Magnard Sonata of 1910 is a slightly more familiar work; it’s been recorded several times. Its complex harmonic idiom, with constantly changing tonality and elaborate counterpoint, demands the listener’s close attention, and Lidström and Forsberg make everything as clear as can be. They’re adept at finding just the right tone for each passage – a good example is the way the tempestuous Scherzo (sans faiblir is Magnard’s instruction) transforms into the more inward but still anguished Funèbre third movement. In the contrasting consolatory section of this funeral march, Mats Lidström produces the most beautiful soft tone, starting very tentatively, then blossoming into greater intensity.
-- Duncan Druce, Gramophone
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Charles Koechlin (27 November 1867 – 31 December 1950) was a French composer, teacher and musicologist. Among his teachers at the Paris Conservatoire were Jules Massenet, Gabriel Fauré, Maurice Ravel and Jean Roger-Ducasse. He was a political radical all his life and a passionate enthusiast for such diverse things as medieval music, The Jungle Book of Rudyard Kipling, Johann Sebastian Bach, film stars (especially Lilian Harvey and Ginger Rogers), traveling, stereoscopic photography and socialism. As a composer, Koechlin was enormously prolific, and was highly eclectic in inspiration and technique.
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Albéric Magnard (9 June 1865 – 3 September 1914) was a French composer. He was a student of Théodore Dubois, Jules Massenet and Vincent d'Indy. Magnard wrote his first two Symphonies under d'Indy's tutelage, and dedicated his Symphony No. 1 to him. Magnard's primary musical influences were contemporary French composers, particularly César Franck. His whole musical output numbers a total of just 22 opus numbers; along with the symphonies and operas are a handful of chamber works. Magnard became a national hero in 1914 when he refused to surrender his property to German invaders and died defending it.
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Charles-Marie Widor (21 February 1844 – 12 March 1937) was a French organist, composer and teacher of the late Romantic era. Widor was a prolific composer, writing music for organ, piano, voice and ensembles. Apart from his ten organ symphonies, he also wrote three symphonies for orchestra and organ, several songs for piano and voice, four operas and a ballet. As of 2022, he is the longest-serving organist of Saint-Sulpice in Paris, a role he held for 63 years. He also was organ professor at the Paris Conservatory from 1890 to 1896, and then he became professor of composition at the same institution.
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Mats Lidström (born 1959) is a Swedish solo cellist, recording artist, chamber musician, composer, teacher and publisher. He studied with Maja Vogl in Gothenburg, then with Leonard Rose at the Juilliard School. Lidström has performed and recorded as a soloist and principal cellist with some of the world's major orchestras and conductors. He often seeks out neglected but beautiful music for the cello and has produced several highly acclaimed and award-winning CDs for EMI, Deutsche Grammophon, Decca, BIS, Hyperion, as well as on his own label CelloLid.com. Lidström plays the "Grützmacher" Rocca (Giuseppe Rocca 1857).
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Bengt Forsberg (born 1952 in Edsleskog) is a Swedish pianist. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music in Gothenburg, then continued his training with Peter Feuchtwanger in London and Herman D. Koppel in Copenhagen. Forsberg is one of Sweden's leading pianists and is particularly esteemed as a recital accompanist. He has become known for his wide repertoire and his constant interest in finding neglected music. Forsberg may be the most esteemed and in-demand accompanists. Among the artists he regularly accompanies are cellist Mats Lidström and violinist Nils-Erik Sparf, as well as mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter.
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