Floraisons
Anthony Girard (b. 1959)
Les Merveilles de la Mer
Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
Children’s Corner
Reynaldo Hahn (1874-1947)
Clair de Lune
Anthony Girard
Floraisons for piano four hands
Daniel Gardiole (piano); Mai Lan Morini (piano)
rec. 2022/23, Guillaume Siron Studio, Cinqueux, France
Reviewed as download
Da Vinci Classics C00947 [58]
‘Floraisons’, in French means flowering or blossoming. The recital under review comprises works by Anthony Girard (b.1959), Reynaldo Hahn, and Claude Debussy. Anthony Girard is a French composer and teacher with several works already in the catalogue. There’s a very detailed and quite interesting introduction in the accompanying booklet. The concept is an interesting one. As I understand it, the aim is to revisit childhood through the eyes of pianist, composer, and piano pupil, and to recreate the innocent ‘blossoming’ pleasures of simple pieces learned in childhood.
The two pianists are Daniel Gardiole and his former pupil, Mai Lan Morini who was aged thirteen at the time of the recording.
A solo piano cycle called Les Merveilles de la Mer commences the programme. It was composed by Girard for his daughter, Stella, who was aged seven at the time, and just learning piano with her mother. There are twelve short pieces in total, each deriving inspiration from a particular beach in Brittany. These pieces are played by the young Morini. As an aside, it might have been nice to see some images of the places concerned, but a quick Google search soon obliged with images of rugged and beautiful coastline. The pieces themselves are simple but lovely, each accompanied by evocative descriptions. The longest lasts just over two minutes, and most are under a minute. I can imagine they would be enjoyable to play for young or beginner-level pianists. They reminded me, perhaps inevitably, of Satie, but also very much of John Cage’s In a Landscape. Morini acquits herself well, bringing a pleasant if heavily-pedalled tone and no little emotion to these miniatures.
The next element of the recording is Debussy’s six-movement suite, Children’s Corner, played this time by the senior pianist, Daniel Gardiole. Competition in this repertoire is obviously extremely strong. My own favourites among many are Noriko Ogawa on BIS (review) and Vanessa Benelli Mosell’s recording on Decca (481 6642). To my ears, Gardiole can’t compete in this sort of company. He seems to push and tug unnecessarily at the rhythms, and the result is the structure of these wonderful pieces gets lost. To be fair, he isn’t helped by the piano sound, which I found harsh and unappealing, especially at the louder registers. To me, they don’t evoke at all the innocence or freshness of childhood. In summary, I don’t think I would revisit this part of the recital again.
Au Clair de Lune by Reynaldo Hahn was new to me. It is a musical tale, based on a text about a lovelorn couple and their misadventures. This work is also played by Daniel Gardiole, and once more the individual pieces are very short in length. Alas, aside from track 26, Le Lys, I didn’t find any of the music memorable. I have enjoyed Hahn’s music in the past, but this particular repertoire didn’t win me over. Yet again, the sound of the piano itself seemed somewhat at odds with the material. There was none of the magic I found in Kolesnikov’s recent recording of Hahn’s piano works (review).
The closing piece is a three-piece piano suite for four hands, composed by Anthony Girard , entitled Floraisons. It was written especially for this recording and is dedicated to Gardiole and Morini. Similar in style to Les Merveilles de la Mer, the booklet alludes to the spirit of Ravel’s Mother Goose. It certainly doesn’t attain anywhere near those heights but I imagine it would be a pleasing piece to play. The three movements together last under eight minutes in total, so it does not outstay its welcome.
To summarise, the pieces I enjoyed most were definitely the two compositions by Girard. Though I am a fan of both Debussy and Hahn, neither performance of their works fully convinced and I didn’t like the piano sound. There is simply too much competition to recommend these versions. More positively, the general concept of exploring music written for and about children is unusual and clearly close to the contributor’s hearts, and I can imagine the pieces by Anthony Girard finding an audience among entry-level performers and young listeners alike.
Keith Brumpton
Availability: Da Vinci Edition
