“All this alternately thoughtful and exuberant music is played with great care and authority by the Mirage Quintet who never mistake a term such as animé for fast. Brilliantly alive to their challenge, they have been well recorded.” --Gramophone Magazine, January 2010
"It is a graceful combination of instruments…hearing it is like walking through an exhibit of antique jewelry…Albert Roussel’s sophisticated Sérénade speaks in the composer’s distinctive voice, which is both exotic and neo-Classical." --Fanfare, January 2010
"It is a graceful combination of instruments…hearing it is like walking through an exhibit of antique jewelry…Albert Roussel’s sophisticated Sérénade speaks in the composer’s distinctive voice, which is both exotic and neo-Classical." --Fanfare, January 2010
The five composers on this disc share the clarity and refinement, brio and wit, and subtle sensuality that permeate French music written between the Franco-Prussian and Second World Wars. Each found in literature, the visual arts and the music of Debussy and Ravel touchstones for their own compositions, while expressing their individual personalities.
Refinement and pellucid textures characterise Tournier’s Suite; vigour, elegance and passion Schmitt’s. Françaix’s Quintet, much-loved for its charm and delicacy, matches Roussel’s neo-classical Serenade and complements Pierné’s virtuosic and translucently scored Variations.
Refinement and pellucid textures characterise Tournier’s Suite; vigour, elegance and passion Schmitt’s. Françaix’s Quintet, much-loved for its charm and delicacy, matches Roussel’s neo-classical Serenade and complements Pierné’s virtuosic and translucently scored Variations.
