Reynaldo Hahn; Jules Massenet - Piano Concertos (Stephen Coombs)

Information

Composer: Reynaldo Hahn; Jules Massenet

• Massenet - Piano Concerto in E flat major
• Hahn - Piano Concerto in E major

Stephen Coombs, piano

BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra

Jean-Yves Ossonce, conductor

Date: 1996

Label: Hyperion

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Review

Like so much of Massenet’s music, this is all tunefully appealing music. More renowned for his operas than anything else, apart from the ballet music in such operas as Le Cid, one is rarely given a chance to hear Massenet in a purely orchestral medium; normally such a body of players would be consigned to the role of accompanying the human voice from a pit in an opera house. Despite the best efforts of all involved, and Stephen Coombs is a fine player, the music is dangerously dull, only in the last movement is there any natural energy and sense of propulsion in the rhythms, tempo and style. Even so it is curious why Massenet should have chosen Slovakian themes for the dance tunes, rather than those from colonial Africa, which Saint-Saëns would have done. Before that it tends to coast along in another Saint-Saëns sort of way, indeed the pretty tinkling music assigned to the fishes in that composer’s Carnival of the Animals springs, or should one say swims in, to mind in the first two movements of Massenet’s concerto. Strange really as the composer was already sixty when he finally wrote it, but it sounds as if he was still making exploratory forays into developing the musical ideas for the work which do in fact stem from his youth. Perhaps it was being in the relatively unfamiliar waters of the concert hall rather than the opera house which explains this sense of unease. Liszt was impressed by Massenet’s piano playing and encouraged him, even to the extent of finding a wife for him by passing on a beautiful pupil for him to teach and then marry.

Massenet in turn taught Reynaldo Hahn composition from 1887. Hahn’s concerto is much better than his master’s, more interesting, inventive and ear-catching. Ravel was a contemporary and it sounds like it in places (occasional solo moments for percussion, harp, cor anglais, trumpet and so on), though for 1931 it’s a conservative piece of music in the best sense of the word, moments of Chopin, Liszt and of course the inevitable Rachmaninov. Like his teacher before him, Hahn produced his single piano concerto towards the end of his life. It may well be that he wrote it precisely as a throwback to earlier days when music was ostensibly more elegant and charming. Certainly this is a work worthy of revival to stand with Ravel’s G major concerto; the orchestration is masterful, the melodic invention inspired. A splendid performance is given by all concerned, but what a pity the lively and witty (Satie perhaps?) second movement scherzo is so short. Incidentally when Hahn recorded it with Magda Tagliaferro in 1937, it had to be heavily cut, but this is a fully restored version, as intended by the composer.

It’s a disc worth its money for Hahn’s fine concerto alone.

— Christopher Fifield

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Reynaldo Hahn (9 August 1874 – 28 January 1947) was a Venezuelan-born French composer best known for his elegant art songs. Moved to Paris as a child, he studied at the Conservatoire under Jules Massenet and later served as music critic for Le Figaro before becoming director of the Paris Opéra in 1945. Hahn composed operettas, ballets, incidental music and piano works, with Ciboulette (1923) among his most successful stage works. Inspired by literary figures such as Marcel Proust, he created music admired for its lyricism and refinement. His song Si mes vers avaient des ailes remains a concert favourite.

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Jules Massenet (12 May 1842 – 13 August 1912) was a French composer. Born near Saint-Étienne, France, he studied at the Paris Conservatoire under Ambroise Thomas and won the prestigious Prix de Rome in 1863. Massenet composed more than 24 operas; his most famous works include Manon, Werther and Thaïs. In addition to opera, he wrote more than 200 songs, a piano concerto, orchestral suites and oratorios. Massenet was also highly influential as a teacher of composition at the Paris Conservatoire. Among his students were Gustave Charpentier, Ernest Chausson, Reynaldo Hahn and Gabriel Pierné.

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Stephen Coombs (born 11 July 1960 in Birkenhead) is a British pianist. He achieved early success, gaining 2nd place at the National Piano Concerto Competition at age 13 and a Gold Medal at the International Liszt Piano Competition in Sopron, Hungary when he was 16. Coombs studied at the Royal Northern College of Music, then at the Royal Academy of Music with Gordon Green. He began recording for Hyperion in 1989. His recordings include the complete solo piano music of Glazunov and other discs of Russian solo piano repertoire (Scriabin, Arensky, Liadov, Bortkiewicz), as well as for Hyperion's Romantic Piano Concerto series.

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