French National Police Band - Fauchet: Symphony in B-Flat Major (2011) [Hi-Res]

Tracklist

01. D’un matin de printemps (Version for Concert Band)
02. Symphony in B-Flat Major: I. Ouverture (Maestoso – Allegro, très décidé) [Original Version]
03. Symphony in B-Flat Major: II. Nocturne (Lentement)
04. Symphony in B-Flat Major: III. Scherzo (Vif, gai et léger – Trio pastoral)
05. Symphony in B-Flat MAjor: IV. Finale (Allegro militaire)
06. Metal Music (Version for Concert Band)
07. Couleurs cuivres (Suite for Brass Quintet and Concert Band)

The “Symphonie pour Musique d’Harmonie” by Paul Fauchet (1881-1937), which was certainly produced by the Garde and its director Guillaume Balay in 1926, strangely fell rapidly into oblivion in his own country. Yet, this music was rapidly exported to other countries like the United States and Japan, where it was received with enthusiasm. It is probably the first symphony for wind orchestra with its traditional four movements. Here in France, the musicians of the Musique de la Police Nationale conducted by Jérôme Hilaire at the concert given in the Théâtre de l’Onde in Vélizy-Villacoublay, are reviving the spirit of the original version of 1926.

Drawing up the programme of a recording is like an invitation to travel. This tour, which we wanted to be flanked by a tricolore stern flag, connects the two ends of the 20th century, like two very distant harbors. We preferred the idea of time, necessary corollary, to the geographical confinement. In France, at the beginning of the 20th century, the harmony orchestra was the reference for all those Sunday music lovers who, assembled around a pavilion, discovered music listening to municipal or regimental open air concerts. At a time when radio didn’t exist and wax disks turned for just up to 4 minutes on expensive gramophones, the “endimanchés” (people clothed in their Sunday bests) discovered the great repertoire of the symphony, even if the transcripts were somewhat patched up and questionable. These open air concerts were the means of broadcasting on a large scale and as such accepted by the most severe scholars.

François Branciard’s (born in 1979) orchestration of Lili Boulanger’s pirouetting and spring-like page is in line with the tradition of the French orchestration for wind instruments. In contrast with reductions made my military band masters, with their drawn moustache and limited knowledge, Branciard, a born colourist, exalts the flamboyant tone of this short master-piece. He reveals echoes of Debussy, with a sonority close to “La Mer” or “Fêtes”. We love imagining little sister Boulanger listening to her score played like that by the Garde Républicaine, in the Jardin du Luxemburg on a Spring Sunday. After the starter, the transcription, followed the original work, the Sunday main course.

The “Symphonie pour Musique d’Harmonie” by Paul Fauchet (1881-1937), which was certainly produced by the Garde and its director Guillaume Balay in 1926, strangely fell rapidly into oblivion in his own country. Yet, this music was rapidly exported to other countries like the United States and Japan, where it was received with enthusiasm. It is probably the first symphony for wind orchestra with its traditional four movements. Here in France, the musicians of the Musique de la Police Nationale conducted by Jérôme Hilaire at the concert given in the Théâtre de l’Onde in Vélizy-Villacoublay, are reviving the spirit of the original version of 1926. It is based on the complete recasting which is now (finally!) available at Editions Robert Martin. Trying to stick to the original text as strictly as possible, the music shows an “instrumentarium” (instrumentation) which is above all balanced and which doesn’t weigh down the lower registers. You will hear all saxhorns with their clear brass instruments without forgetting the “batterie” (percussion instruments), used in the original way by the Garde.

As we catch sight of the other shore of our acoustic crossing, cornerstone of an exploration of two major scores of our time and original renewal of the idea of “Esprit français”, the mirror game is revealed, which confronts “transcription/original work” within the time frame of more than one century. At the beginning of this century, Jean-Pascal Beintus, one of the best orchestrators of our times, whose name is mentioned in the credits of all major Hollywood productions, retains the discourse and tones inspired by the orchestral art of someone like Ravel. His suite “Couleurs cuivres” for brass quintet and harmony orchestra shows the influence of happy hours spent in sweet company of the music of “Daphnis” or “La Valse”. Beintus’ admiration for a John Williams is obvious, but the treatment of the brass solos with their strong melodic line remains in the pure French tradition. In conclusion of our musical journey, the musicians of the Police Nationale perform “Metal Music”, an incisive and metallic work by Pascal Zavaro, one of the most prominent French musicians of the young generation, in an adapted version realised by one of his students at Conservatoire, Laurent Langard. The grammar used by Zavaro is a confluence of various influences, between repetitive music, a funky beat, rhythmic writing in the style of Bernstein or influenced by world music and thus conquers a vast audience avid for new spaces.

And if, back on firm ground, accompanied by this magnificent and strong contemporary repertoire, we were to dream of a return of the pavilion concerts? Could this new interest shown by composers of a learned bent for this orchestra neglected for long decades mark the revival of the French Harmony. English translation: Barbara Johnson-Ferguson

Feeling Brass Quintet:
Romain Leleu, trumpet
Loïc Sonrel, trumpet
Hugues Viallon, horn
Florent Didier, trombone
Thomas Leleu, tuba
French National Police Band
Jérôme Hilaire, conductor

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