The Ensemble Martinu’s 2008 recording of Florent Schmitt’s quartet “Pour presque tous les temps” is stunning.
One of the last works created by the French composer Florent Schmitt was a quartet he titled Pour presque tous les temps.
It is one of the last numbered compositions in Schmitt’s entire output (#134 out of a total of 138 opus numbers) and was completed in 1956, two years before the composer’s death.
Schmitt was known to use plays-on-words for the titles of some of his compositions. Thus, we have pieces like Hasards (“Chances”) … Suite sans esprit de suite (“Suite that is not in the Style of a Suite”) … Le Clavecin obtempérant (“The Ill-Tempered Clavichord”) … Suite en rocaille (“Suite On-the-Rocks”) … and in the case of the Opus 134, “Quartet for Almost All the Time.”
Some musicologists have surmised that Schmitt was doing a riff on Olivier Messiaen’s Quatuor pour la fin du temps (“Quartet for the End of Time”), which was composed in 1941 during Messiaen’s wartime captivity in Germany.
But I find this cheeky connection rather unlikely because of the substantial difference in the length and scope of the two works. (Messiaen’s is fully 50 minutes long, whereas Schmitt’s work is closer to 10 minutes in duration — and of a vastly different musical character.)
Schmitt’s quartet is scored for flute, violin, cello and piano. The dedication on the manuscript is to the Quatuor Instrumental de Paris. Taken together, its four movements clock in at fewer than 11 minutes, with all but its third movement lasting fewer than three minutes each.
- Alerte
- Au clair de la R – IV
- Lent mais non languide
- Vif
What I find delightfully surprising is how fresh and vigorous the music sounds – it hardly seems the work of a composer who was, by then, well into his ninth decade.
The musical idiom is “agreeably modern” – even “neo-classical” – but with a big measure of impressionistic flavor overlaid on it.
In fact, the music sounds far more lush than similarly scored pieces by other composers like Albert Roussel, Darius Milhaud and Jacques Ibert. In the end, this is music that remains true to Schmitt’s Romantic inclinations.
Another characteristic of this music is this: It never grows old. I find that with each additional hearing, fascinating new musical elements come to the fore. Because of this, I consider Pour presque tous les temps to be an “important” piece within its genre.
Unfortunately, Pour presque tous les temps finds its way onto music programs only occasionally. A quick online search reveals only three or four references to public performances of the score within the past several years – and none of them happening in the United States.
The situation is similar in recordings; to my knowledge, the piece has been recorded only twice.
First recording (to my knowledge): The Marcal label’s 2006 release of Florent Schmitt’s late-career quartet “Pour presque tous les temps.”
The earlier of the two recordings (from 2006, released on the Marcal label) features violinist Anne Werner-Fuchs, cellist Jean Barthe and flautist Frédéric Werner, along with Genevieve Ibanez on the piano. It is coupled with chamber music by the Swiss composer Pierre Wissmer.
I haven’t had the opportunity to hear the Marcal reading, but I have heard a newer recording by the Ensemble Martinů, released in 2008 on the Cube Bohemia label in a CD that also contains music by other French composers (Ravel and Ibert) and Czech composers (Martinů, Kurz and Riedlbauch).
The Cube Bohemia recording is polished and effective, performed by clearly first-rate musicians. I heartily recommend it to anyone curious to sample this highly engaging music.
The music score and instrumental parts are available for viewing and downloading here.
Pour presque tous les temps is a piece that could certainly use more advocates. I hope several other ensembles will choose to take it up soon – particularly in the United States. Any takers?
