Armande de Polignac (1876-1962)
Piano Works
Six Préludes (c.1900)
Nocturne (publ.1907)
Pluie (1905)
Berceuse (1906, revised version)
Échappées (1909)
Cloches for piano four hands (1919)
Les Mille et une Nuits version for piano four hands (1912)
Bruno Belthoise (piano)
João Costa Ferreira (piano four hands)
rec. 2024, La Grange de Saint-Leu de Forêt, France
Grand Piano GP954 [73]
French composer Mélanie Bonis (1858-1937) adopted Mel as her first name to disguise the fact that she was female and improve the possibilities for acceptance of her music. Armande de Polignac, born just a generation later, benefitted from a slightly more enlightened outlook. From 1903 women were allowed to participate in the Prix de Rome and indeed Lili Boulanger became its first female winner in 1913 with her sumptuous cantata Faust et Hélène. It was into this world that Armande de Polignac was born. Her mother died a week after De Polignac was born and when her father married an English woman the family moved to london where she began her studies. Her formal studies were on her return to Paris at the age of seventeen where her tutors were Eugene Gigout, Gabriel Fauré and, during her two years at the Schola Cantorum, Vincent d’Indy. Piano was her main instrument, studying under Wilhelmine Clauss-Szarvardy, a pupil of Smetana’s tutor Josef Proksch, but she also played violin, viola and took lessons on wind instruments. It appears that her high social class was as much an impediment as her gender; she was considered a socialite for whom music was a hobby but she countered that not only was her training professional and thorough but that she also considered music her calling. A prolific composer, she left nearly two hundred works including many piano pieces, vocal works and stage works that include three operas and two ballets.
The six Préludes are amongst her earliest pieces and are gentle lyrical pieces that occasionally betray an affinity to the chromaticism of Fauré though they are generally unambiguous and quickly find their way back to the home key. Patterns in the opening bar or bars are maintained throughout; the rising arpeggio of the first, the arpeggio and repeated note motif of the third, the restless figure of the sixth. The booklet describes them, accurately as knowingly anti-virtuosic though I would say that the drama of the sixth could be a little more tempestuous if the marked allegro molto surged just a little more. Seven years later she wrote her Nocturne that now shows her settling comfortably into the impressionism that is only hinted at in the préludes. Long broad phrases and slowly building chord sequences are woven into this serene quasi-barcarolle. The brief Pluie dates from two years earlier though its minor second dissonances and false relations sound more advanced. The gentle patter of rain becomes rather impish with its staccato second motif and spurs the rain into more driven flurries. The same dissonances are found in her cradle song of 1906, giving the gently flowing music an edge that is surely not conducive to sleep. It grows more restless in the middle section but returns to the edgy feel of the opening before breaking into an almost jazzy chordal finish.
The three tone pictures Échappées, presumably vistas in this context, are Dans la Steppe, Soleil dans la forêt and bazar d’Orient and add more than a touch of the east to her impressionism, decidedly so in the first. The bell-like sounds of the outer sections of dans la Steppe, mostly in the higher reaches of the piano, are enchanting but seem odd for such a bleak landscape, a little too comfortable. The more turbulent central section conveys more of the desolation and brings hints of Ravel into the mix. De Polignac’s evocative timbre and fantastic sound world continue in the cascading opening of Soleil dans la forêt. The booklet suggests a Russian imfluence in her writing in these pieces and perhaps there are suggestions of Petrushkain some of the chordal passages toward the end of this sketch but I think de Polignac succeeds very successfully in creating her own language and texture. Bazar d’Orient is a heady mix of colour and timbre, from the ethereal opening arpeggio figures to the thumping bass line that stomps into the scene and the tranquil chords that break out into shimmering decoration. Bustling lines break through every now and then and the tranquil chords gain a melody suspiciously like the dies irae. It’s all rather intoxicating and vivid and I imagine that the orchestral versions that she created of the first and third pieces would be a riot of colour.
Two pieces for four hands end the recital. Cloches, dating from 1919 and still unpublished, is more advanced harmonically than anything we have so far heard, introducing striking bi-tonality in the first piece. The lower part is more static, a steady off beat ostinato playing against the ringing carillon of the upper part. The carillon happily continues along in its home key while the ostinato bass descends into deeper unrelated notes and leading to a wonderfully resonant climax of overlapping tones. The mournful second piece is almost hypnotic in the flow of its slow melody and accompanying figures. The sun pops out briefly for a major key interlude but the minor key quickly returns for a more complex development of the opening. The bi-tonality is hardly heard here, just audible in some piquant dissonances.
The recital closes with the piano duet version of her symphonic suite les Mille et Une Nuits, Scheherzade’s tales that fascinated so many composers. The orchestral original was performed in 1911 and then as a ballet in 1913 conducted by Gabriel Pierné; this piano duet version was published in 1912. The Russian influence is more prominent here and hints of Rimsky-Korsakov can be heard in some of the accompanying lines though she is worlds away from his style. She does not seem to be portraying any particular story in these pieces but rather a general evocation of the landscapes and characters therein. So she starts with the Sultan walks among the riches of his palace and its varied moods. Gone is the bi-tonality, leaving in its place a luxuriant impressionism that brings the world of Debussy’s Fêtes to mind. She gives an impression of the Sultan passing from room to room, each with its own unique treasures. The languid second piece, Clair de lune dans le jardin, is almost hypnotic with its ostinato and slow paced chords. The flowing ostinatos grow more insistent and the mood grows restless for a short space but a passionate rising crescendo heralds the return of the opening tranquility though rather striking chords suggest that not all is as it was before. The final orgy and dance heralds in much more muscular and even humorous music than we have so far heard though it is interwoven with music that evokes bells and plays with melody in a way that could be Rachmaninov. One wonders how this impressively vivid music has fallen into neglect and I hope that we have the opportunity to hear the orchestral version soon. While the early Préludes are merely pleasant, much of the rest is impressive and on the strength of this excellent release her music certainly deserves attention.
Rob Challinor
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