Listen & tracks
9 works · 63:01
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Sonata for clarinet and pianoFrancis Poulenc 3 movements14:53
- 1 i. Allegro Tristamente 5:49
- 2 ii. Romanza 5:34
- 3 iii. Allegro con fuoco 3:30
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4 Pastorale John Carmichael 3:19
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Le Tombeau de Ravel: Valse-CapricesArthur Benjamin 3 movements14:12
- 5 i. Introduzione, allegro molto, poco lento 2:57
- 6 ii. Presto, volante, andante, semplice, allegro, vigoroso 5:03
- 7 iii. Allegretto, preciso, finale 6:12
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8 Pastorale Cévenole Louis Cahuzac 5:38
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9 Des pas sur la neige Claude Debussy [ed. Prorvich] 3:52
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10 Phospheric Variations Paul Stanhope 4:46
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11 Danza Colin Brumby 2:15
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12 Cantilène Louis Cahuzac 5:13
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13 Tema con Variazioni Jean Françaix 8:53
A Year in Paris is a romantic, mysterious journey through repertoire that evokes the City of Light. Moody and intimate, ranging from introverted to brilliant, the programme offers a year-long view of the seasons and emotions of an Australian living in Paris.
From Benjamin’s mercurial Valses-Caprices to the brooding Pastorale Cévenole, the icy stillness of Des pas sur la neige and the bubbling enthusiasm of Françaix’s Theme and Variations, the disc gathers the range of feelings a life in Paris can call up. Music to sit back with and let the imagination drift: rainy streets, surprises around every corner, a mix of the startling and the expected.
The recording is the culmination of Canham’s studies in France with clarinettist and pedagogue Philippe Cuper. Produced with assistance from CAPO, it features French and Australian composers linked to Paris or to one another. Canham and Smith set out to share those anecdotes, traditions and their influence on performance with Australian audiences.
In the artist’s words
To spend a year in Paris, living in the roof of an old building, playing my clarinet every day was a beautiful experience. The opportunity to have any type of cultural exchange where one is left with both a feeling of appreciation for another way of doing things, and an enhanced view of one’s own way is both inspiring and illuminating. Paris is an amazing place: a place of boundless possibilities where astounding beauty mixes with everyday life in a landscape of fascinating people and atmospheres.
My studies at the Versailles Conservatoire were steeped in history in every sense, taking classes in the shadow of the famous Versailles Château. In this setting I learned many stories behind the music I studied, as information from Cahuzac, Poulenc and Françaix was passed onto me by my teacher Philippe Cuper.
One of the best aspects of returning home after such an experience is having the chance to share it with others, and I am grateful to the Ian Potter Cultural Trust, The Australian Music Foundation and CAPO for assisting me in undertaking both the study and this recording project. Life would not be the same without the beauty of music.
Reviews
Nicole Canham's voluptuous timbre and immaculate technique ensnare you right from the opening of Poulenc's Clarinet Sonata, transporting you effortlessly into an exotic yet rewarding program drawn from Paris-inspired French and Australian composers. Antony Smith is a first-rate accompanist. This is one of the best Chamber albums so far this year.
If you are fond of the Clarinet, let me say unhesitatingly that this CD should yield hours of pleasure.
Intelligent selection and fine performances.
Artists
Anthony Smith
piano
Anthony graduated from the ANU in 2000. He was appointed pianist at The Casals Academy of Music in 2003.
Nicole Canham
clarinet
Nicole's professional experience is extensive and varied, including orchestral work with Opera Australia, the Tasmanian and Canberra Symphony Orchestras, the Canberra Chamber Orchestra, the Canberra Choral Society and for the Australian and Kiev Ballet Canberra seasons.
Colin Brumby
composer
Colin Brumby (1933–2018) was an Australian composer and conductor whose prolific catalogue ranges across opera, concertos, chamber music, choral works and songs.
Claude Debussy
composer
Claude Debussy (1862–1918) was a French composer whose harmony, colour and flexible sense of key reshaped European music at the turn of the twentieth century. Piano, orchestral and chamber works from his maturity remain central to the repertoire.
Francis Poulenc
composer
Francis Poulenc's music swings from boulevard wit to peasant devotion. Perpetual-motion piano, chamber sonatas, horn élégies, Christmas and penitential motets, a Gloria, and songs that can flirt, mourn or protest sit side by side in the catalogue.
Arthur Benjamin
composer
Arthur Benjamin (1893–1960) was an Australian composer, pianist and teacher, best known for the evergreen Jamaican Rumba and for a substantial body of chamber, piano and orchestral music long neglected at home.
Louis Cahuzac
composer
John Carmichael
composer
John Carmichael writes melodic, neo-Romantic music coloured by Spanish folk idiom and French influence. The piano sits at the centre of his catalogue, which also reaches concertos and chamber works for winds.
Jean Françaix
composer
Paul Stanhope
composer
Paul Stanhope writes chamber and choral music charged by landscape and light: sea, rainforest, dawn and open space. His scores for voice, strings and choir balance precision with verve, and he has shaped that sound from the podium as well as the page.
Digital booklet
Digital booklet Notes, texts and credits — read online or download the PDF Download the PDFPerformers
- Nicole Canham · clarinet
- Anthony Smith · piano
Technical credits
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Recording Engineer
Vaughan McAlley
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Venue
Move Records Studio
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Credit
Rachel Gould
Details
- List price
- $25.00 AUD
- Total playing time
- 63 minutes 1 seconds
- Release date
- 2004
- Category
- Classical
- Musical work copyright
- © 2004 Nicole Canham and Anthony Smith
- Sound recording copyright
- ℗ 2004 Move Records
- Catalogue
- MCD 288
- EAN
- 9314574028829
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