Hyperion Records | Françaix: À huit & Divertissement

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Front illustration by Audrey Kellow.

CDA67036

Recording details: December 1997
Henry Wood Hall, London, United Kingdom
Produced by Arthur Johnson
Engineered by Antony Howell & Julian Millard
Release date: June 1998
Total duration: 61 minutes 35 seconds

'Four delightful works. Music which is as easy on the ear as it is beguilingly performed. A magical disc ideal for unwinding after a long hard day at the chalk face' (Classic CD)

'An hour's worth of pure delight' (Hi Fi News)

'An absolute must for every Françaix addict' (Fanfare, USA)

Jean Françaix (1912-1997)

À huit & Divertissement

The Gaudier Ensemble

LISTEN TO ALL EXTRACTS

		A huit – Octet
1		Movement 1: Moderato [6'01]
2		Movement 2: Scherzo [4'33]
3		Movement 3: Andante [4'43]
4		Movement 4: Mouvement de Valse [5'03]
		Divertissement
5		Movement 1: Vivace [2'21]
6		Movement 2: Lento [2'46]
7		Movement 3: Vivo assai [2'04]
8		Movement 4: Allegro [2'17]
		Clarinet Quintet
9		Movement 1: Adagio [7'35]
10		Movement 2: Scherzando [6'04]
11		Movement 3: Grave [5'07]
12		Movement 4: Rondo [5'39]
		L'heure du berger
13		Movement 1: Les vieux beaux [2'13] with Susan Tomes (piano)
14		Movement 2: Pin-up girls [2'06] with Susan Tomes (piano)
15		Movement 3: Les petits nerveux [3'03] with Susan Tomes (piano)

Jean Françaix: a quintessentially French composer following in the tradition of Saint-Saëns, Poulenc and Satie; composer of some one-hundred-and-fifty works; and virtuoso pianist in his own right.

The four works on this recording were composed between 1942 (the Divertissement- very much a 'distraction' during the Nazi Occupation of France) and 1977 (the Clarinet Quintet). All four share a high degree of compositional mastery, but this is always embedded within an air of grace, of profound charm, and of wit. It is perhaps this sense of humour which has so endeared Françaix's music to generations of musicians and music-lovers. But despite the facts that L'heure du berger was composed in honour of a Parisian restaurant who were to use it as 'background' music, that Françaix self-deprecatingly passed off A huit as a 'stop-gap to fill a programme' for the Vienna Octet, and that the Divertissement contains unashamedly blatant musical jokes, these compositions are unmistakably the work of an expert, a distinctively 'Gallic' artist.