Album

The claims of the Naxos Art and Music series are modest ones; the series "presents the composers active during the lives of the leading painters and sculptors, setting a musical context to their work." For someone who lived a fairly long life, such as painter Paul Cézanne, that doesn't narrow things down much. What the listener gets on this disc is a half century of French music of various kinds from the Naxos catalog, some of it (Duparc, Chabrier, Debussy) certainly relevant to Cézanne's nature-worshipping yet geometrical art, and some of it (Louis Vierne) certainly less so. The booklet attempts to relate music and art only in the most general way, but its selection of color prints is generous (the only design irritant is the ugly set of all-caps composer names on the front cover). The program, even if unified only by French nationality, has attractive features, including the sensitive trio of Duparc songs by tenor Paul Groves and pianist Roger Vignoles, and the comparatively rare Piano Quartet in F minor, Op. 10, of Léon Boëllman, an interesting precursor to Satie (also represented on the disc) in its use of medievalisms. This release is proclaimed by Naxos as part of an "educational" subset of its catalog, and it is not quite that. It's worth a listen in the car on the way to the museum, though.

© James Manheim, All Music Guide

CD 1
Hector Berlioz Composer Les Troyens (The Trojans), H.133a, Op.5 (opera)...Act 2 Work Yoav Talmi Conductor, San Diego Symphony Orchestra Orchestra
1	1.Prélude	5:01			$0.99
Georges Bizet Composer L' Arlésienne Suite No.2 (from the incidental music) Work Anthony Bramall Conductor, Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra Orchestra
2	1.Pastorale: Andante sostenuto assai	5:47			$0.99
Emmanuel Chabrier Composer 10 Pièces pittoresques Work 6:56 Georges Rabol Piano
3	2.Mélancolie	2:09			$0.99
4	8.Improvisation	4:47			$0.99
Henri Duparc Composer Chanson triste, Op.2, No.4 ('Dans ton coeur') Work Roger Vignoles Piano, Paul Groves Tenor
5	Chanson triste, Op.2, No.4 ('Dans ton coeur')	3:25			$0.99
Henri Duparc Composer Le manoir de Rosamonde ('De sa dent soudaine et vorace') Work Roger Vignoles Piano, Paul Groves Tenor
6	Le manoir de Rosamonde ('De sa dent soudaine et vorace')	2:37			$0.99
Henri Duparc Composer Elégie ('Oh! ne murmurez pas son nom!') Work Roger Vignoles Piano, Paul Groves Tenor
7	Elégie ('Oh! ne murmurez pas son nom!')	3:07			$0.99
Gabriel Fauré Composer Masques et Bergamasques, Op.112 Work 8:06 John Georgiadis Conductor, RTE Sinfonietta Orchestra
8	3.Gavotte	3:44			$0.99
9	4.Pastorale	4:22			$0.99
Léon Boëllmann Composer Quartet for piano & strings in F-, Op.10 Work Karoly Botvay Cello, János Fehérvári Viola, Ilona Prunyi Piano, Bela Banfalvi Violin
10	Finale: Allegro	7:50			$1.49
Erik Satie Composer 3 Gymnopédies Work Klára Körmendi Piano
11	1.Lent et douloureux	2:41			$0.99
Achille-Claude Debussy Composer Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune, L.86 Work Alexander Rahbari Conductor, BRT Philharmonic Orchestra Orchestra
12	Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune, L.86	10:33			$1.99
Louis Vierne Composer Pièces (24) en style libre, for organ, Op 31 Work Simon Lindley Organ
13	Epitaphe	3:58			$0.99
Achille-Claude Debussy Composer Nocturnes, L.91 Work Alexander Rahbari Conductor, BRT Philharmonic Orchestra Orchestra
14	1.Nuages	7:34			$1.49
Maurice Ravel Composer Miroirs Work 8:05 François-Joël Thiollier Piano
15	1.Noctuelles	4:18			$0.99
16	2.Oiseaux tristes	3:47			$0.99