French music before and after the Great War - Fernand Halphen, Maurice Ravel
The First World War marked a deep turmoil in Europe, from which the musical creation wasn’t forgotten. Performed by the Orchestra of the Campus of Orsay, under the direction of Martin Barral, and the pianist Olivier Herbay, the works gathered in this disc illustrate this statement.
Fernand Halphen’s (1872-1917) symphony in C minor - written in 1896-1897 but never recorded until today - still belongs to the XIXth century, in terms of classicism of language as well as its expressive research, where as Maurice Ravel’s (1875-1937) piano Concerto for the Left Hand, firmly turned towards modernity, is the result of a composer in full maturity, eleven years after the ending of the conflict.
Gathering the works of these composers, whithout taking account of their notoriety, allows us to better appreciate the stylistic diversity of the French musical production before and after the war of 1914.
This CD is part of the Classic collection, which allows us to rediscover repertoires of great forgotten composers.
It has been published with the support of the Fondation pour la Mémoire de la Shoah.
The Jewish discotheque
This CD has been edited by the European Institute of Jewish Music (IEMJ). The first documentation and resource centre on Jewish music in Europe, the IEMJ's mission is to create a reference "Jewish discotheque". Under his own label, it broadcasts and preserves the traces of Jewish musical creation of yesterday and today.
Its production is divided into four collections:
- Musical heritages of the Jews of France, which emphasizes the musical traditions of the Jews of France,
- Archives, which brings back to life anthology recordings that have been completely remastered,
- Classics, which offers the opportunity to rediscover repertoires of great forgotten composers,
- Discovery, which presents a vision of contemporary Jewish music in its diversity and cultural diversity.