Andre Mathieu

[mbhaub]

This week I've been listening to a beautiful cd of music by a French-Canadian composer I'd never heard of, Andre Mathieu (1929 - 1968). He's modern in the temporal sense, but his piano concerto could have been written by Rachmaninoff! It's chock full of good tunes, exciting development, and the all pianistic fireworks you could want. This is  romantic music to the max. The cd also has a short 4 movement suite, Ballet Scenes and 4 songs for chorus and orchestra. If you're fearful of 20th century music, fear not. This is gorgeous music, easily assimilated and not academic or boring in the least. It's on the Alalekta label (AN 2 9281) and features the Tucson Symphony with their regular conductor, George Hanson and pianist Alain Lefevre. Highly recommended.

[Mark Thomas]

Thanks, Martin. I've been wondering about getting hold of this for some time but was put off by some rather patronising reviews I'd read online. I'll track it down. Didn't Mathieu have a rather sad life: classic tale of a child prodigy for whom adult life went wrong?

[Alan Howe]

Very interesting indeed. Have you tried the PC by Vittorio Giannini, just out on Naxos? Now that's what I call the ultimate in Romanticism from a composer born 'out of time', as it were...

[mbhaub]

That's on order! I've been interested in Giannini since playing the 3rd symphony for wind band some 35 years ago. A local orchestra played the 2nd symphony several years ago and I have to say I was less than impressed. Bored mostly. A lot of notes all for nothing. I have high hopes for the new cd and it has certainly received a lot of good reviews.

[Gareth Vaughan]

Andre Mathieu's music is really beautiful. I've mentioned his piano concertos once before, I think - but only in passing.

[TerraEpon]

I have the new piano concerto and four songs from eMusic (and originally, DLed free on SpiralFrog, but that site is gone so the files don't work anymore...), but I also have the solo piano disc on CD which is great as well, and the Rhapsodie Romantique from eMusic as well (the last of which is actually a longer version of the middle movement of the piano concerto #4 being talked about. Both are worthwhile with a theme I can even hum now...)

But the best is probably the Concerto de Quebec, which is...well it didn't get top marks for nothing. It's paired with Gershwin's concerto and Addinsell's Warsaw Rhapsody, but even those two are worth buiying a new recording of for the CdQ...

[Amphissa]

 
Rachmaninoff himself gave the stamp of approval to this young man. Critics often complain that Mathieu's music for piano and orchestra is too derivative of romantic influences of Rachmaninoff, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, et al. But he had a talent for putting those influences together in an interesting and entertaining way. I'd put his work at the level of Scharwenka rather than Rachmaninoff, but not shabby at all. Very enjoyable music and well worth the price of admission.