The new BIS recording, released in June 2022.
In June 2022, the BIS label is releasing an important new recording that features French trumpet repertoire performed by the noted soloist Håkan Hardenberger along with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Fabien Gabel. The recording is realization of Mr. Hardenberger’s goal to record the trumpet concertante works of Henri Tomasi, André Jolivet, Betsy Jolas … and Florent Schmitt’s Suite en trois parties, Op.133 which he composed in 1955.
Suffice it to say, it’s high-time that this dream has come true, considering that Mr. Hardenberger studied at the Paris Conservatoire in his early years and has presented most of these pieces in concert on a regular basis in the decades since.
I was privileged to interview Messrs. Hardenberger and Gabel at the time of the recording sessions in Stockholm this past August. And now, with the release of the new BIS recording (which proves to be a stellar artistic achievement upon listening to it), Pierre-Jean Tribot of Crescendo Magazine has interviewed Maestro Gabel about the recording project.
Fabien Gabel and Hakan Hardenberger confer with a member of the production team at the recording session with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. (August 2021)
Pierre-Jean Tribot
In the Crescendo interview, in addition to asking Maestro Gabel about the repertoire on the recording, Tribot also asks him to discuss aspects of Florent Schmitt’s artistry that goes beyond the 1955 Trumpet Suite to encompass the composer’s wider musical legacy.
The Crescendo interview was published on April 15, 2022. For those who know the French language, you can click or tap here to access the article. If you would prefer to read the article in English, a translation of the text is presented below.
André Jolivet (1905-1974)
Conductor Fabien Gabel is making a splash with the release of an album in which he accompanies the formidable trumpet player Håkan Hardenberger in concertante works from the French repertoire, including concertos by Tomasi and Jolivet. This BIS album, recorded with the excellent Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, is a great success that reimagines the [artistic] approach to these scores. The musician answers questions from Crescendo Magazine.
P-JT: How was this new recording project conceived?
FG: I accompanied Håkan Hardenberger for the first time a few years ago in Helsinki in Zimmermann’s Concerto [“Nobody Knows da Trouble I See”]. Naturally, he and I talked about repertoire! We observed that the “Finale” of Tomasi’s concerto was too short and that the “reference” numbers [in the score] did not logically follow each other.
Henri Tomasi photographed with his son, Claude Tomasi, at St-Valery sur Somme, France. (1969 photo)
I did research with Claude Tomasi [Henri Tomasi’s son], who sent me a copy of the trumpet and piano manuscript. It soon became clear: the “Finale” was longer and written almost in one go!
From there came the idea of ”recreating” it (none of us know if the Dutch trumpeter who premiered the concerto had played it in its entirety). Since the orchestral material couldn’t be found, the missing parts had to be orchestrated. For this, Franck Villard has done a remarkable job. We played the piece in Québec, in Paris [and in Malmö], then recorded it in Stockholm.
P-JT: The program features works for trumpet and orchestra. You yourself studied the trumpet and you are also the son of the great trumpet player Bernard Gabel. Does accompanying a trumpeter for a recording of great works from the repertoire (about which you must know the smallest details) have particular significance?
Like father, like son: Fabien Gabel as a young teen, performing alongside his father Bernard Gabel, principal trumpet player at the Paris Opéra Orchestra. Young Fabien would later move on to a global conducting career.
FG: It is above all the culmination of a common purpose. Håkan Hardenberger and I have forged strong artistic and personal ties through this adventure. Surprisingly, Håkan had never recorded any of the great [twentieth century] French concertos with orchestra before. So we had a strong desire to do this together — both of us being aware of our love for French music!
A musical family lineage: Fabien Gabel’s grandfather was principal cellist of the Lamoureux Concerts Orchestra, pictured here (first-stand cello, at left) with conductor Paul Paray at the podium. (Photo: ca. 1950)
P-JT: Listening to the disc, we are struck by your wonderful collaboration with the soloist. Jolivet and Tomasi’s concertos are performed with an incredible sense of style and nuance. What was it like to work with Håkan Hardenberger?
In the office of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Håkan Hardenberger and Fabien Gabel confer about the music selected for the new BIS recording of trumpet concertante works. (August 2021)
FG: In the simplest way possible, actually – both of us having a deep knowledge of this repertoire. We spoke very little, knowing that we understood each other musically. But we have broken away from certain “traditions”! These concertos are all-too-often approached as competition pieces, with little freedom in the end.
P-JT: I, too, have the impression that you make real music with works that we tend to consider “obligatory passages” of the repertoire – too often treated as competition pieces and reduced to their virtuoso aspects. For you, what is the stylistic richness of these scores?
Betsy Jolas at age 92. (2018 photo)
FG: Tomasi and Jolivet are great melodists. The slow movements of the concertos are absolutely beautiful! Schmitt is a master of form (even though the Suite is relatively short) – as is the score by Betsy Jolas [Onze lieder].
I would say that the consummate sense of color, articulation and orchestration are common threads between these four composers.
P-JT: This album presents [the Suite en trois parties] score by Florent Schmitt, whose Psaume XLVII [1904] you recently conducted in Paris with the Choir of Radio France and the Orchestre National de France. Please tell us about this experience – which must have been a challenge since that score is as unclassifiable as it is fascinating.
The Concerts Pasdeloup program for an Inghelbrecht performance of Florent Schmitt’s Psaume XLVII. coupled with Debussy’s Le Martyre de Saint-Sébastien (November 1929). (Courtesy: Dominique Bloch-Berthié and Gérard Fallour)
FG: Psalm XLVII is a colossal work. It is the major French choral work of the twentieth century and was regularly performed in Paris by the greatest French conductors (Inghelbrecht, Paray, Martinon, Rosenthal, etc.) until the beginning of the 1970s. But I discovered with amazement that Karajan, Krips and Ormandy had also conducted it, and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf had sung it in Paris under the direction of Markevitch!
The score is fascinating because we switch very subtly from the nineteenth to the twentieth century when moving through the score. It has “Germanic” dimensions in its form while having a very refined orchestration. The choir part is sometimes “inhuman” [in its difficulty], and you have to deal with many balance challenges, especially in a modern performance space.
Conductor Fabien Gabel leads the Orchestre National de France with soprano Marie Perbost and the Choeur de Radio France in Florent Schmitt’s Psaume XLVII. (Maison de la Radio, Paris, May 12, 2022)
P-JT: Do you think the time has come for a Florent Schmitt revival in France?
FG: Florent Schmitt’s salvation comes more from abroad; none of his orchestral pieces are being scheduled in France next season. There are always preconceptions and, above all, misunderstandings that have more to do with Schmitt’s personality than with his music. We only remember the controversial remarks, certainly very regrettable, that he made in 1933 at a concert of the music of Kurt Weill – while he was also the friend of Schoenberg and his greatest defender in France.
Florent Schmitt, photographed at about the time he composed the Suite en trois parties. (Photo: © Lipnitzki/Roger-Viollet)
Florent Schmitt was an “independent” [musician] all his life, imbued with a strong personality and a formidable, caustic humor (the radio interviews are irresistible!). I have no hesitation in saying that his music is just as important as Ravel’s.
He was very prolific and his orchestral works are masterful. They were admired by composers from Ravel to Dutilleux via Stravinsky. The latter recognized how essential La Tragédie of Salomé (dedicated to him) was in his own creation of Le Sacre du printemps.
The time of purgatory is over and Schmitt’s music is played on all continents. I would like France to restore to him the place he deserves in the Pantheon of great French musicians.
Composers Florent Schmitt (age 87) with Igor Stravinsky (age 75) and Vera de Bosset Sudeikine Stravinsky at a social gathering at the American Embassy in Paris. A young Henri Dutilleux )back to camera) is pictured between both men. (1957 photo)
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The new Hardenberger/Gabel BIS recording of French trumpet concertante works is being released internationally this month and will soon be available at all major online music retail outlets including Amazon, ArchivMusic, Presto Music, and others. I recommend that you acquire these definitive performances, and can confidently predict that you will be very pleased by what you hear.
