Swiss quintets by Gustave Doret and Fritz Bach

[Wheesht]

The Swiss label Cascavelle has released a CD with two quintets, one by Gustave Doret (1866-1943) and one by Fritz Bach (1881-1930). More information and sound bites here.
Fritz Bach also wrote a symphony, and this was performed by the Orchestra de la Suisse Romande under Ernest Ansermet in February 1921. I'm not sure if the score has survived but there is a digitised file of the piano reduction available, together with other scores, here.

[semloh]

Thanks for alerting us to this, Wheesht. The sound bites are all very tasty indeed!

I am totally unfamiliar with the work of both composers. Grove notes that Doret was a pupil of Dubois and Massenet, and primarily a composer of operas. However, in addition to this piano quintet, he also wote an orchestral suite, a string quartet, songs and choral works. Fritz Bach isn't listed in any of the usual resources, such as Grove and Baker's Biographical Dictionary. I see from Wiki that D'Indy was one of his teachers, and that he mainly composed religious music.

[Wheesht]

While I was vaguely familiar with the name Gustave Doret, Fritz Bach was a completely new name for me.
This biography and list of works (in French only) contains a link to a recording of Doret speaking about music and then, from 2:26 a recording of his beautiful Chanson du petit chevrier (Song of the little goatherd), composed for the 1927 Fête des vignerons. This piece at least is still known – and sung – in French-speaking Switzerland today.

[Alan Howe]

The Doret is very beautiful indeed. Thanks for the heads-up.