Peter Cabus (1923-2000)
Preludio e tema con variazioni
Eleven Bagatelles
Three Homages
Two: a pair
Piano Sonata No.1 (1958)
Piano Sonata No.2 (1974)
Johan Duijck (piano)
rec. 2022, St. Lodewijkscollege, Bruges, Belgium
Etcetera KTC1786 [73]
Peter Cabus may not be widely known but he was a most distinguished composer with a huge and varied oeuvre. He was born in Mechelen. His teachers included violinist André Gertler in chamber music and Jean Absil in composition, and he received encouragement from the composer Godfried Devreese whom he later succeeded as director of the Municipal Conservatoire in Mechelen. He composed six symphonies and some ten concertos, including Facetten for saxophone and strings (1974) and Concerto classico for guitar and strings (1999). His chamber music includes four string quartets and a clarinet quintet (1976). This is a short list of his most important works, to which one may add the selected piano music on this disc.
This generous release covers various aspects of Cabus’s piano output, from short, didactic pieces to more important works such as the two piano sonatas and Preludio e tema con variazoni. The latter, a big piece, represents a form to which Cabus often returned during his career. The Clarinet Quintet ends with a long theme and variations, as does the Fourth String Quartet (1995, revised 1997/1998) and, as we shall see, the Piano Sonata No. 2. A theme with variations allows to reconcile unity and variety, lightness and weight, while preserving formal coherence and inner logic.
Other pieces here are quite different. The Eleven Bagatelles, as expected, are short, colourful and characterful vignettes (with titles such as Fable, Little Dance, Lullaby, Merry Play and Small Parade). The sequence Two: a pair also consists of twelve very short pieces, all under a minute, probably meant as a didactic introduction to piano technique, although the insert notes do not mention anything. But all these short pieces are perfectly shaped and fastidiously chiselled, and never outstay their welcome; that, to my mind, is the touch of a true master miniaturist.
The Three Homages – to Chopin, Bach and Debussy – are also are concise, but manage to pay heartfelt homage while avoiding the all-too-easy trap of pastiche, parody or blunt imitation.
The last two works are the substantial piano sonatas. The more traditionally laid-out Piano Sonata No.1 in four movements opens with an Allegretto followed by a capricious long scherzo. The third movement is a deeply felt, rather dark-hued Lento doloroso (inscribed Hommage à C.F. – not that the notes explain). I was sometimes reminded of John Ireland’s masterly Piano Sonata (1918/1920) but I suppose that these merely coincidental echoes do not affect the deep and intrinsic expressive and musical quality of Cabus’s piece. Quite the contrary: this big-boned, strongly articulated piece deserves to be heard.
Much the same goes for the Piano Sonata No. 2, which shows a more assured mastery than its predecessor. The formal design is very different. There are two movements: an Allegro and a substantial theme and variations. The Sonata gives a sure-handed display of formal mastery and piano technique, probably exacting to play but ultimately quite rewarding. As far as I am concerned, the work is one of Cabus’s great achievements, and one of his most personal statements.
I have nothing but praise for this release. It pays a much deserved tribute to a most distinguished composer whose music is still too rarely played, heard and recorded. Johan Duijck is a composer, choir conductor, pianist and teacher. He performs this recital with understanding of, and sympathy for, Cabus’s beautifully varied and endearing music. The recording is very fine indeed. My complaint about this otherwise most desirable release concerns the insert notes: they say very little about the music (no composition dates, for example). But that should not stop anyone from investigating this well-filled programme. The rewards will be a-plenty.
Hubert Culot
Help us financially by purchasing from
