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Claude DEBUSSY
Suite bergamasque (arr. Ceysson) (19′)
I. Prélude
II. Menuet
III. Clair de lune
IV. Passepied
Marcel TOURNIER
Images, Suite No. 2, Op. 31 (9′)
I. Les Enfants à la crèche de Noël (Children at the Christmas Nativity Scene)
II. L’étrange Cavalier (The Strange Rider)
III. La Marchande de Frivolités (Merchant of Frivolities)
André CAPLET
2 Divertissements (10′)
I. À la Française (In the French style)
II. À l’Espagnole (In the Spanish style)
Marcel TOURNIER
Images, Suite No. 4, Op. 39 (12′)
I. La Volière Magique (The Magical Aviary)
II. Cloches sous la Neige (Bells in the Snow)
III. La Danse du Moujik (The Dance of the Moujik)
Gabriel FAURÉ
Impromptu in D-flat Major, Op. 86 (9′)
The programme starts with Debussy’s Suite bergamasque, arranged by Ceysson. This suite grows out of the salon tradition, with charm and elegance at its heart. When Debussy composed the Suite bergamasque, he was still developing his distinctive musical language, blending the elegance of the salon tradition with early hints of the impressionistic style, creating a musical equivalent of its suggestive, ethereal quality. Ceysson’s harp arrangement highlights these qualities through the instrument’s unique timbres.
I. Prélude
The Prélude opens the suite with a winsome character. Its open, flowing, and largely legato phrases create a sense of anticipation, drawing the listener into Debussy’s sound world. Its modal hints anticipate the harmonic language Debussy would later develop. The movement’s gentle flow sets a serene and graceful tone.
II. Menuet
The Menuet blends playfulness and lyricism with sudden bursts of pearlescent descending scales. Its gently shifting harmonies hint at the mature Debussy’s harmonic freedom, adding subtle complexity beneath a classical dance form.
III. Clair de lune
Clair de lune is the suite’s most famous movement. This moonlight piece was originally titled “Promenade sentimentale” after Paul Verlaine’s poem, but it is in its reference to the moon that we most fondly recall it. Its gently undulating melodies, shimmering harmonies, and delicate textures evoke the ethereal beauty of a moonlit night. The arrangement for harp particularly emphasizes the movement’s evocative qualities, creating a magical and dreamlike soundscape.
IV. Passepied
A lively and energetic dance, the Passepied provides a spirited conclusion to the suite, full of bustling activity balanced by moments of lyricism. This charming dance provides a joyful and elegant finale.
Marcel Tournier ranks among the greatest harpist/composers in the history of the harp. The list of works that he published during his lifetime numbers between 90 and 100, the majority for solo harp. Tournier’s output, like that of many composers, evolved over time, and the bulk of the pieces in this concert are from his mature years, and reflect the influence of Debussy in particular, but also of Satie and Ravel.
In Images, Suite No. 2, Tournier explores the harp’s full range of colours and techniques, including pedal glissandi, sliding chords, and enharmonics, creating textures that are both poetic and technically inventive.
I. Les Enfants à la crèche de Noël (Children at the Christmas Nativity Scene)
This movement conjures the innocence and wonder of children gathered around the nativity scene of baby Jesus, with gentle melodies and bell-like harmonies evoking a sense of reverence and joy.
II. L’étrange Cavalier (The Strange Rider)
Here, we are introduced to a mysterious, slightly whimsical character. The music’s irregular rhythms and unexpected harmonic conjure a sense of sense of intrigue and fantasy, drawing the listener into a narrative that is at once unsettling and compelling.
III. La Marchande de frivolités (Merchant of Frivolities)
The suite concludes with a lively and playful portrayal of a frivolities merchant. This movement depicts a lively street vendor offering trinkets, with playful motifs and sparkling textures suggesting the bustling energy of a festive marketplace.
André Caplet, a distinguished French composer and conductor, was an important figure in early 20th-century French music. A close friend of Claude Debussy, Caplet’s works are often infused with the delicate colors and atmospheric qualities characteristic of Impressionism, yet they also showcase his own refined and diverse musical voice.
The 2 Divertissements are among his final works and dedicated to the celebrated harpist Micheline Kahn, who premiered them at the théâtre du Vieux-Colombier in 1924. The work is structured in two contrasting movements:
I. À la Française (In the French style)
The first movement, à la Française blends the lightness and grace of French musical tradition with flowing lines punctuated by unexpected harmonic shifts, evoking a sense of playful elegance.
II. À l’Espagnole (In the Spanish style)
This movement serves as an animated counterpart to à la Française, drawing inspiration from Spanish flamenco. It employs many of the harp’s special techniques, including short glissandos, trills, pedal slides and enharmonics. It is noted for its “guitaristic effects”, modern-sounding harmonies and rhythmic flair.
I. La Volière Magique (The Magical Aviary)
The opening movement presents a fantastical aviary filled with enchanting birds. Through sparkling harp textures and delicate melodic lines, Tournier conjures a lively atmosphere of an aviary filled with magical birds.
II. Cloches sous la Neige (Bells in the Snow)
This is in some ways his most impressionistic piece. It relies more on carefully crafted effect than on melody or obvious structure. Here, the picture is of a village in the French countryside, seen in the distance across barren fields through the blur of a winter snowstorm. The snow quietly and persistently falls. With deft use of grace notes, harmonics, and occasional chords, Tournier evokes gusts of wind, the sweep of the snow, the deep sound of the church bells, and the quiet hibernation of the isolated village.
III. La Danse du Moujik (The Dance of the Moujik)
The suite concludes with lively rhythms and bold melodies—a spirited dance inspired by the traditional Russian peasant, the moujik. Rhythmic vitality and folkloric character imbue this movement with energy and rustic charm, bringing the suite to a vibrant and joyful close.
Fauré is not generally thought of as a great orchestrator and the instances where he wrote for harp within an orchestral setting – just think of the Requiem – don’t do anything particularly adventurous or outlandish. So it is all the more striking that in 1904 he set about writing an exam piece for Alphonse Hasselmans’ famed harp class at the Paris Conservatoire. The performance that came out top in that 1904 competition was given by Micheline Kahn, who was only 14 at the time; she went on to have a very long and successful career, dying at 97 in 1987.
Micheline must have been quite a prodigy, for not only is the Impromptu fraught with technical difficulties, it also demands musicianship on the highest level, from its grand opening sequence of chords, via deliciously dreamy melodic writing to outbreaks of considerable virtuosity, replete with cadenzas and striking use of the instrument’s harmonics. It seems more than possible that Fauré called on Hasselmans’ expertise for some of the more involved writing. It is a tribute to both Fauré as well as Hasselman that the Impromptu has far outlived its original purpose to become a vital part of any harpist’s repertoire. Tribute too, that the great French pianist Alfred Cortot, no less, transcribed it for the piano.
With his powerful, virtuoso playing, Emmanuel Ceysson sweeps away all the clichés associated with his instrument. His infectious enthusiasm and boundless energy reveals the harp in all its sparkling splendour, in a world where poetry rhymes with temperament.
Chosen amongst 70 others of his best peers in a totally blind and anonymous audition process, he is since September 2020 the new Los Angeles Philharmonic Harpist under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel. This exciting symphonic position comes after almost 15 years playing opera in the pit, as Principal Harp: first with the Opéra National de Paris, a job he won aged 22, and then for 5 full seasons with the legendary New York MET Opera Orchestra.
Born and raised in France, he studied at the Paris Conservatoire under the tutelage of Isabelle Moretti, and then managed to collect the highest international distinctions and prizes in the course of 5 years : Gold Medallist at the 2004 USA international Harp Competition, First Prize at the New York Young Concert Artists Auditions in 2006, and First Prize at the 2009 ARD competition in Munich; thus securing a press acclaimed solo career, as recitalist in major concert venues like Carnegie Zankel Hall, Wigmore Hall, Salle Gaveau, Munich Gasteig, Wiener Konzerthaus, Hyogo concert hall, and as soloist with orchestras such as the Oslo Philharmonic, Bavarian Radio Orchestra, Deutsche Symphonie Orchester, RAI Orchestra Torino, Orchestre National de Lyon, PKF Prague Philharmonia.
He also took part in important music festivals all over the planet including the Edinburgh International Festival, the Cartagena Music Festival, the Mecklenburg Vorpommern Festival, Hong Kong Premiere Performance, Caramoor and Classical Tahoe.
As a recording artist, his wide discography covers solo, chamber music and concerto harp repertoire with labels such as Naxos, BR klassik, Naïve, Aparte, Alpha Classics, and received praise from the specialized press.
He also invests lots of time teaching masterclasses worldwide, held visiting professor positions at the London Royal Academy of Music and Helsinki Sibelius Academy, and teaches a harp studio at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
Finally, he was recently appointed associate music director of the USA International Harp Competition, and works hand in hand with Linda Wood Rollo and Elizabeth Hainen-DePeters to help prepare the upcoming contests.
