Alexandre Guilmant - Duos pour piano et harmonium (Ernst Breidenbach; Johannes Matthias Michel)

Information

Composer: Alexandre Guilmant

1. Symphonie-Cantate Ariane, Op. 53 (Excerpts) [Version for Harmonium & Piano]: I. Allegro molto agitato
2. Symphonie-Cantate Ariane, Op. 53 (Excerpts) [Version for Harmonium & Piano]: III. Adagio
3. Symphonie-Cantate Ariane, Op. 53 (Excerpts) [Version for Harmonium & Piano]: VI. Danses des songes
4. Symphonie-Cantate Ariane, Op. 53 (Excerpts) [Version for Harmonium & Piano]: VIII. Marche avec chœurs
5. Pastorale for Harmonium & Piano in A Major, Op. 26
6. Scherzo capriccioso for Harmonium & Piano in F-Sharp Minor, Op. 36
7. Final alla Schumann, Op. 83 (Version for Harmonium & Piano)
8. Pièces dans différents styles, Book 11, Op. 44: No. 2, Élégie fugue
9. Marche triomphale, Op. 34
10. Pièces dans différents styles, Book 2, Op. 16: No. 2, Prière
11. Pièces dans différents styles, Book 10, Op. 40: No. 4, Final

Ernst Breidenbach, piano

Johannes Matthias Michel, harmonium

Date: 2001/2021

Label: Pan Classics

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Review

ARTISTIC QUALITY: 8 / SOUND QUALITY: 7

The four movements of Alexandre Guilmant’s Symphonie tirée were transcribed by the composer for piano and harmonium from his eight-movement Araine, a “Symphonie-Cantata” for soloists, chorus, and orchestra. Frankly, the music offers little besides faded charm in the Adagio and Danse des Songes and foursquare puffery in the big outer movements. Yet the glittery piano writing proves oddly compatible with the harmonium’s wheezy lyrical passages. This also is true in gentler, sickeningly sweet works like the A major Pastorale and F major Prière. At least Guilmant rambles within tasteful, proportionate boundaries in his Mendelssohn-derived Scherzo Capriccioso and an A major Finale that proves how Schumann’s genius does not automatically rub off on those who crib his obsessive dotted rhythms. And if you crave a loosely fashioned school fugue in the style of watered-down César Franck, try the Elégie Fugue in F minor. Ernst Breidenbach and Johannes Matthias Michel play this music with well-honed unanimity of ensemble and stylish flair, and my rating reflects the performances rather than the works themselves.

-- Jed Distler, ClassicsToday

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Alexandre Guilmant (12 March 1837 – 29 March 1911) was a French organist and composer. In 1871 he was appointed to play the organ regularly at la Trinité church in Paris, and held this organiste titulaire position for 30 years. In 1894 Guilmant founded the Schola Cantorum with Charles Bordes and Vincent d'Indy. He taught there up until his death. In addition, he taught at the Conservatoire de Paris where he succeeded Charles-Marie Widor as organ teacher in 1896. Guilmant was an accomplished and extremely prolific composer who devoted himself almost entirely to works for his own instrument, the organ.

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

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German pianist Ernst Breidenbach studied with Werner Hoppstock and Rainer Hoffmann at the Akademie für Tonkunst in Darmstad, as well as with Aloys Kontarsky and Günter Ludwig in Köln. In 1981 he made his debut as soloist under the baton of Mathias Husmann in Darmstad. His musical partnerships in chamber music with Johannes-Matthias Michel and in Lieder with Markus Schäfer led to interest in wider repertoire, and since 1992 to the publication of more than 12 CDs on Cadenza, CPO, ifo, NCA and Signum. Breidenbach has appeared many cities of Germany, France, the Czech Republic, Austria and the USA.

https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Breidenbach-Ernst.htm

https://www.ernstbreidenbach.de/

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Johannes-Matthias Michel (born October 1, 1962) is a German conductor and organist. From 1988 to 1998, Michel was region cantor in Eberbach at Neckar, director of the Eberbacher Kantorei and the Singschule Eberbach. Since January 1999 he is director of church music at the Christuskirche Mannheim, region cantor of Mannheim and state cantor of Nordbaden. From 1984 to 2019, Michel was chairman of the Karg-Elert-Gesellschaft and publisher of their publications. He teaches at the Hochschule für Kirchenmusik in Heidelberg and the Staatlichen Hochschule für Musik in Mannheim.

https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Michel-Johannes-Matthias.htm

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