Joseph Guy Ropartz: is he another
Maurice Ravel -- or just another Albéric Magnard? Is Ropartz, like
Ravel, a contemporary of
Debussy who courageously struck out on his own original approach to music, or is he like Magnard -- or, for that matter, like Caplet, d'Indy, Schmitt, and a half-dozen other minor French composers of the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century -- just another contemporary of
Debussy who stubbornly stuck with the highly chromatic harmonic language of the fin de siècle, and thus never broke into the international big time. More like the latter than the former, one has to admit. This doesn't mean Ropartz's music is no good. As this lovely disc shows, his music is beautifully wrought, deeply felt, and sometimes even quite moving. His Piano Trio from 1914 is a large-scale, four-movement work with enormous energy and immense emotion. The String Trio from 1934-1935 is a smaller-scale four-movement work with a slightly more reserved tone but no less control over the materials. The Prélude, marine et chansons for flute and harp plus string trio from 1928 is an intimate three-movement work that's tonally more austere but emotionally no less intense. Superbly played by three different ensembles of French musicians in this richly colored and ideally balanced 2007 recording by Timpani, anyone looking for the next Albéric Magnard need look no further.