Les Vents Français – Romantique (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:15:28 minutes | 1,09 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Warner Classics

Posing in front of a view of the city of Salzburg with grins on their faces, the cover of Les Vents Français’ new album almost looks photoshopped. With Emmanuel Pahud on flute, François Leleux on oboe, Paul Meyer on clarinet, Radovan Vlatković on the horn, Gilbert Audin on bassoon and Éric Le Sage on piano, Romantique was recorded in the Bavarian Radio Studios in Munich.

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Les Vents Français – Moderniste (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:54:54 minutes | 1,59 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Warner Classics

Modern: Designating the most innovative forms of art in a given period, particularly those of the 20th century. This definition from the French Larousse Dictionary explains the performers’ choice of title – Modernistes – for this new anthology of music for wind instruments: what draws the attention in these works – in different ways at different times and in different fields – are their innovative, progressive and adventurous qualities. Four of the composers featured on this album can legitimately be associated with what is very broadly known as Modernism, referring to the general proliferation of new ideas and new musical aesthetics at the turn of the 20th century and beyond. As for the two works by Philippe Hersant and Thierry Escaich, they call on us to reflect on what modernity means to us today. And, while it is easy to set Modernism in opposition to traditionalism, it is also interesting to distinguish between a composer’s personality and his or her approach to composing.

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Les Vents Français – Hindemith: Wind Sonatas (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:01:37 minutes | 588 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Warner Classics

The pieces by Paul Hindemith on this recording, have a special importance in the history of music. They stand at a crossroads, belonging to an era when progressive and post-Romantic tendencies still existed side by side. These five sonatas represent a deliberate return to a classical form, revealing, in Claude Rostand’s words, “a distinctive chromaticism that frees his emerging style from tonal instability and melodious fluidity”. It is the classical structures that he restores, “in so doing rejuvenating his very spirit with the most sovereign and daring freedom of thought”. Once again, these few words by Claude Rostand, who saw the composer “bearing the arms of Bach or Stravinsky”, seem to hit the nail on the head.

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Les Vents Francais – Beethoven: Chamber Music for Winds (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:19:43 minutes | 776 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Erato – Warner Classics

This Warner Classics release is billed as music by Beethoven, but most of it fits only partly under that rubric. Les Vents Français experienced well-deserved success for their French-heavy programs on recordings and in concert, and it is understandable that they would like to branch out with Beethoven. But in so doing, they get into pretty obscure territory. The Trio in C major, Op. 87, despite its high opus number, is an early work, like all the other genuine pieces on the album, composed in 1795. Originally for two oboes and English horn, it is transcribed here for oboe, clarinet, and bassoon by John P. Newhill, who wrote a book on the basset-horn. The most interesting of the bunch is the Trio in G major for piano, flute, and bassoon, WoO 37, one of the not-abundant works by the teenage Beethoven in Bonn. With its sizable first movement, virtuoso piano part, and vigorous interchange among the instruments, it points toward the mature Beethoven more than the later, but essentially incidental, works on the rest of the album. The Variations on Là ci darem la mano, WoO 28, are also a transcription (by Fritz Stein), while the Duo in B flat for clarinet and bassoon, WoO 27, No. 3, is thought to be spurious and is full of infelicitous voice-leading, unlikely from the student of Albrechtsberger and Haydn. The Horn Sonata in F major, Op. 17, is genuine Beethoven, tossed off in a day, but intelligently written for the French horn. What keeps the miscellany afloat is the playing of Les Vents Français, which once again is surpassingly elegant, a model of Classical-style wind playing. They get a strong assist from Bavarian Radio engineers, working in the Bavarian Musikstudios in Munich. Recommended for Beethoven enthusiasts.

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