Customer Reviews

André Mathieu: Concerto No. 4; Orchestral Works

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The Canadian pianist and composer Andre Mathieu is easily one of the great unsung composers of the 20th century; for while he was quite prolific, not only was much of his work not very well known, he also didn't live a particularly long life, dying at the age of 39 in 1968. But in recent years, there has been a rediscovering of his works. And one of the great examples of this can be found on this fine recording.

Featuring Mathieu's impressionistic "Scenes De Ballet" (Ballet Scenes) and the Four Songs for Chorus and Orchestra, which bears a similarity to the short works for chorus and orchestra that Brahms had composed a century earlier, this CD from the Canadian label Analekta also contains the composer's lengthy but brilliant 1950 Piano Concerto No. 4 In E Minor, a sweeping piece of 20th century Romanticism if ever there was one (no less an authority than Rachmaninoff himself deemed the young Mathieu in 1939 a genius). The concerto gets an incredible performance here (possibly its world premiere performance, even if the liner notes on the CD don't say for sure) by Canadian pianist Alain Lefevre.

Just as impressive, however, is the performance given by the Tucson Symphony Orchestra under the direction of its music director George Hanson, with the Tucson Symphony Chorus featured in Mathieu's "Four Songs." Here, both orchestra and chorus have made their very first ever recording in their nearly eight decade-long existence. The precision that Hanson and the orchestra, along with the chorus (prepared by Bruce Chamberlain), and Lefevre display here is incredible, doing both Mathieu and the Tucson classical music audience proud.

Tucson has long rightly boasted about being the hometown of one of the great female pop music icons of the last fifty years, Linda Ronstadt. Now, thanks to this recording, this lush desert city in southeastern Arizona can soon boast about find itself on, at the very least, the regional classical music map of America as well.

What a triumph this recording is. It is at once lush and detailed. If you are a fan of heroic piano playing and a Mahler-esque range of emotion from a composer whose intensity pushed him to eternity at age 39, this disc is a must buy.

I was not even aware of this composer,but after having seen Alain Lefevre on Charlie Rose I googled everybody and I ordered it and it is fantastic. I hope he gets more recognition in the US.

André Mathieu (1929-1968) was a Canadian prodigy, called by some the "Quebec Mozart". Supposedly Rachmaninoff said he was "a genius, more so than I am" and regarded him as his successor. He gained some fame but had an unhappy life, became an alcoholic and died young. Canadian pianist Alain Lefevre has devoted himself to reclaiming him from oblivion and publicizing him.

The fourth piano concerto is a startling work, grand and sweeping. The style is much like late Rachmaninoff. There is struggle to it more than triumph perhaps, but it is the struggle of a giant, and I like it very much. It is very well played by Lefevre and the Tucson Symphony. I'm reluctant to call it a great work, but I think it has great spirit, and I think if you like Rachmaninoff you will be very glad to know it.

Heard LeFevre play the Mathieu Concerto at a performance by Santa Barbara Symphony. Had to have the CD. It's a fine combination of Gershwin, Mahler and others

Quebec-based composer André Mathieu (1929-1968) might belong to the generation of Stockhausen, Kurtag and Berio, but his music is firmly late-romantic, unashamedly adhering to the tradition (and style) of Rachmaninov more than anyone else. Actually, his fourth piano (completed by Gilles Bellemare) could easily have passed as a work by that composer although the thematic material is a little less distinguished and the structure even more rambling - the thematic material is definitely not distinguished enough to sustain the work's more than forty minutes' duration, despite some interesting moments.

So who was André Mathieu? Known as "le petit Mozart canadien", Mathieu was something of a wunderkind, and became known as a composer and pianist relatively early on. His life seems to have been a tragic one, and he died young (of the effects of alcoholism). His music, however, seems to have retained a certain degree of popularity in his native Quebec, and it does indeed contain some good ideas - thoroughly conservative and eclectic, of course, and with a certain lack of formal cohesion (the composer's studies with Honegger did, apparently, not work out very well). Much of it was left in an incomplete state at the composer's death, and Gilles Bellemare and the soloist here, Alain Lefèvre, have apparently done a great deal to piece it together and revive it.

As mentioned, however, the concerto is far from a masterpiece. Lovers of Rachmaninov will like it, and there are undoubtedly some really fine ideas - the last movement, which is the most successful one, even bears repeated listening. The Scènes de ballet are rather impressionistic, but slight and anodyne. The four songs are intermittently charming and atmospheric but frankly rather boring.

The performances are decent but not really more than that. This is the debut recording of the Tucson Symphony, and it certainly sounds like a fine band, but their tone is too thin for the richly opulent scoring of the fourth concerto. Hanson makes some amends for the shortcomings by conducting them with energy and momentum, and Lefévre's piano playing is overall pretty good. The same considerations about opulence apply to the Scenes de ballet - I am not sure adding some richness would really have saved them, but it certainly couldn't have harmed them either. The chorus is fine in the songs, however. To sum up, despite its shortcomings the concerto remains the main reason for obtaining this release, and while its Rachmaninov-and-water style may be enjoyable once, I wouldn't really go out of my way to get to know it. The sound is dry but decently balanced.