Lucien Wurmser (1877-1967)
À la lueur du timbre
Nicola Giosmin (piano)
rec. Delta Studios, France; dates not given
Hortus 276 [56]

Though Lucien Wurmser is largely forgotten now, he was an important figure in French music in his long life. He studied alongside Ravel while another classmate was Ricardo Viñes, the Spanish pianist who championed so many works by his contemporaries. Wurmser later formed the association des grandes auditions which promoted the music of Ravel, Fauré, Dukas, Debussy and many others though he lacked the dedications from top flight composers that has perhaps kept  Viñes’s name in circulation. Even the competition that briefly kept his name alive has not stood the test of time. He made some recordings that are among the earliest recordings by a French pianist and two releases on APR recordings (review ~ review) have thankfully revived his pianism.

We can thank Nicola Giosmin for focusing on Wurmser the composer. In this second volume, he completes at least four of the sets of pieces that he recorded on volume one (review) and adds three early préludes published in 1913. These open with soir, languid and haunting and showing the impressionist landscape that most of his pieces inhabit. Ostensibly in D major it travels as far as A flat major in its brief span. Silhouette follows this idea, starting with a dancing figure in B flat that finds itself in F sharp major three bars later while the contrasting lyrical section is in C major – all this in just over a minute. The gentle gusts of Brise! are conveyed in a rather staid and mournful little study in semiquavers.

I am unable to find a list of Wurmser’s compositions so I cannot say that the two concertini recorded here and the three on volume one are all he wrote but the ones we do hear are attractive pieces. The Concertino Giocoso dates from 1943 and is written in the style of a classical sonata movement with the typical alberti bass accompaniment while the longer concertino accelerato of 1955 is more involved. It opens with a simple little stepping figure that gradually becomes more complex and decorated with increasingly agitated accompanying figures and speeds things up even further with a change to triple time along the way.

Six préludes from 1954 complete the set that Giosmin began on volume one. La mer, no.1, depicts a relatively calm sea with a slow theme over rolling arpeggios in the left hand while no.3 la nuit is more sedate, a broad lilting slow waltz with rising chords and a falling melody. The seventh prélude is danse grise, another slow waltz and a rather sentimental one; it put me in mind of English light music of a slightly early age, Billy Mayerl in nostalgic mood perhaps. Vagues, the eighth prélude contrasts sweeping legato arpeggios with staccato descending chromatic runs, interspersing some tremolo writing with sudden little outbursts before briefly breaking off into a sad melody. Jazotte, prélude nine lives up to its title, jazz hot, in a quirky and disjointed cake-walk made more piquant with a proliferation of minor seconds. The penultimate prélude is sérénité is a flowing portrait in double notes with a subtly accompanied melody at its heart.

The remaining studies from le gradus moderne are main gauche seul, petit toccata and l’enjouée. The left hand study is a moto perpetuo which gradually incorporates a restless melody. Little toccata is a moderately fast waltz and like all three of these studies has a moto perpetuo feel to it. The final étude lives up to its playful title with the constant stream of nights employing both hands together or in alternate patterns. Three more études follow, completing the set started in volume one. The first is a study in balancing voices framed in the form of a habañera; it is more languid than Debussy’s la puerta del vino but shares much of the mood. Double notes is what it says on the tin, demands facility in parallel fourths and third, whether that is in scales or trills though it is far from a dry technical exercise. The third study is romance, another very attractive and sentimental piece with faint echoes of the likes of Ivor Novello in its main melody. The difficulty here is bringing the melody out of a stream of double notes and, in its central section, maintaining a clear melody between the thumbs of both hands while double notes dance around in slow arabesque.

Giosmin brings the recital to a close with the remaining two pieces from Wurmser’s trois pièces written just a year before he died. Neither Élégie or Air de ballet have any of the impressionism that is heard in his earlier works and both are rather outside of their time; I cannot imagine anyone listening to these would never date them as being written in 1966. The stately élégie actually sounds a little like Rachmaninov in its broad strokes and Air de ballet reminded me of a more gentile version of Chaminade’s Pierette and could easily be its contemporary.

Jonathan Woolf’s comments about performances and sound quality apply equally to this second volume as does the pianist‘s own observation that Wurmser‘s music had become old fashioned at the peak of his creative activity. All that matters now is the quality of the music and I would say that this is very engaging and attractive music; Giosmin has not discovered a forgotten master composer but has blown the dust off some skilfully crafted music with a good deal of harmonic and melodic appeal.

Rob Challinor

Contents
3 Préludes (1913)
Concertino Giocoso (1943)
Concertino Accelerato (1955)
Préludes – extracts (1954)
Le gradus moderne – extracts (1960)
Études de concert et de concours – extracts (1947)
Trois pièces – extracts (1966)