Informationen zu "Gabriel Grovlez Arr: Mark Tanner Sérénade for Flute and Piano Flute & Piano"
Verlag: Spartan Press Music Publishers
Verlagsnummer: SP1272
EAN: 9790579982722
ISMN: M-57998-272-2
Beschreibung
This Sérénade, is the first of 7 pieces, collectively called 'Fancies',
originally written for piano in 1915. Gabriel Marie Grovlez (1879-1944) was
born in Lille, Northern France, in 1879 and died in war-torn Paris in 1944.
From among his teachers, who include Gédalge and Lavignac, Fauré must surely
rank as his strongest influence, and this is readily heard in his small but
significant oeuvre of solo piano pieces as well as his music for stage and
chamber ensembles. Interestingly, most of the piano music was published over
a period of around a dozen years (1907-1919), and in the lull between these
works and his Impressions (two pieces) of 1934 Grovlez was compositionally
preoccupied with songs and chamber pieces, many of which languish patiently
on the shelf awaiting a wholehearted appraisal. There is, as well as his
notable penchant for elegance and poetical lyricism, a considerable wit to
enjoy, too (take Les Ânes ? The Donkeys ? from L'Almanach aux images, for
example), and indeed the fact that Grovlez's middle years were spent
fulfilling the duties of assistant conductor and choir leader of the
Opéra-Comique seems especially revealing of the man's musical personality and
capacity for successfully intertwining serious and less serious genres.
Grovlez was quite a cosmopolitan character, besides making a notable mark in
his native country (he was, latterly, a professor of chamber music at the
Paris Conservatoire), he travelled to the United States and Africa, as well
as across Europe. Although we tend to remember Grovlez today for his
influence primarily as a composer in the mould of Fauré or Debussy, bringing
a quirky quality to some of his writing more than occasionally reminiscent of
Poulenc, it was as a conductor that Grovlez initially made an impact.
Moreover, we should not overlook the fact that he gave the inaugural
performances of some highly treasured works by the likes of Ravel (Ma Mère
l'Oye) and Fauré (Dolly Suite), a piano duet which has earned an especially
important place in the hearts of countless amateur pianists, young and old.
Nor should we neglect his sizeable impact in resurrecting music by, for
example, Monteverdi, Rameau, Gluck and Lully. His charming, delightfully
compact and eclectic resourcefulness also became channelled into stage works
such as operas and ballets, as well as symphonic poems, vocal and choral
pieces, memorable for their warmth of personality and, at times, startlingly
farsighted stylistic direction. To counter those who feel that Grovlez was,
not unlike Erik Satie, disinclined to write music of complexity in favour of
irony and understatement, pianists might wish to get their hands on a copy of
Grovlez's Deux études de difficulté transcendante (1919), which contrasts
superbly with his first published work for the instrument in 1907: Au jardin
de l'enfance (In the Garden of Childhood). There remains a risk that
composers such as Grovlez become recognised only in light of their various
stylistic borrowings, in this case placing him somewhat in the shadow of
Debussy and Fauré, rather than as a musician of the highest ranking in his
own right, and I believe that by bringing works such as the marvellous
Sérénade from Fancies (1915) to a wider audience by means of sensitive
arrangements can only help matters. Acknowledgments: My gratitude goes to
Gillian Poznansky for her helpful suggestions and advice in the creation of
this new edition. Mark Tanner
