The swings of fortune are going the way of Cecile Chaminade at the moment. For so long seemingly remembered as no more than a salon composer, she has more recently had her flute Concertino recorded by James Galway on RCA, and now enjoys the second CD compilation of piano pieces within a matter of months.
At first playing, I wondered whether the rediscovery was altogether worthwhile; but by the second playing the melodic grace and charm of the music, reminiscent as much as anything of Faure, had convinced me that it was indeed so. Chaminade's most popular composition, Automne, has a main theme that will be familiar to most people, and those who know and love the piece will surely be as readily enraptured by its Op. 35 companion, the breathless Scherzo in C major. I liked as much as anything the Romance in D major, Op. 137, one of her later pieces (though she lived on for another 30-odd years). Scarcely less enjoyable are the two contrasting waltzes—the elegant Valse romantique, Op. 115, and the swirling Deuxieme valse, Op. 77. But then, most of the pieces here have the sort of appeal that, after a few hearings, they seem like old friends in whose company one can enjoy welcome relaxation.
Of course, the appeal of the collection owes a great deal to the utterly committed, technically assured and beautifully relaxed playing of Peter Jacobs, capturing all the lyrical grace of the music and providing appropriately delicate rubato. Hyperion provide him with a suitably clear and intimate recording.
The fact that so few of the pieces on this new collection duplicate those on Eric Parkin's for Chandos ((CD) CHAN8888, 8/91) means that one can dispense with comparisons. And happily so, when this newcomer is so very well worth the attention of those who enjoy piano music that seeks merely to soothe, charm and enchant.'