Jolivet: Chamber Music Ensemble MidtVest

• André Jolivet (1905 - 1974): Sérénade for Wind Quintet (1945):
• 1 Jolivet: Sérénade for Wind Quintet (1945): I. Cantilène 03:53
• 2 Jolivet: Sérénade for Wind Quintet (1945): II. Caprice 03:38
• 3 Jolivet: Sérénade for Wind Quintet (1945): III. Intermède 04:09
• 4 Jolivet: Sérénade for Wind Quintet (1945): IV. Marche Burlesque 05:11
• Sonatine for Flute and Clarinet (1961):
• 5 Jolivet: Sonatine for Flute and Clarinet (1961): I. Andantino 03:45
• 6 Jolivet: Sonatine for Flute and Clarinet (1961): II. Quasi Cadenza 02:42
• 7 Jolivet: Sonatine for Flute and Clarinet (1961): III. Intermezzo 03:31
• Controversia for Oboe and Harp (1968):
• 8 Jolivet: Controversia for Oboe and Harp (1968) 10:14
• Petite Suite for Flute, Viola and Harp (1941):
• 9 Jolivet: Petite Suite for Flute, Viola and Harp (1941): I. Prélude. Modéré 01:50
• 10 Jolivet: Petite Suite for Flute, Viola and Harp (1941): II. Modéré sans Traîner 02:00
• 11 Jolivet: Petite Suite for Flute, Viola and Harp (1941): III. Vivement 02:15
• 12 Jolivet: Petite Suite for Flute, Viola and Harp (1941): IV. Allant 03:07
• 13 Jolivet: Petite Suite for Flute, Viola and Harp (1941): V. (Without Tempo Indication) 02:38
• Sonatine for Oboe and Bassoon (1963):
• 14 Jolivet: Sonatine for Oboe and Bassoon (1963): I. Ouverture 02:13
• 15 Jolivet: Sonatine for Oboe and Bassoon (1963): II. Récitativo 03:02
• 16 Jolivet: Sonatine for Oboe and Bassoon (1963): III. Ostinato 02:52
• Pastorales de Noël for Flute, Bassoon and Harp (1943):
• 17 Jolivet: Pastorales de Noël for Flute, Bassoon and Harp (1943): I. L'Étoile 03:11
• 18 Jolivet: Pastorales de Noël for Flute, Bassoon and Harp (1943): II. Les mages 03:07
• 19 Jolivet: Pastorales de Noël for Flute, Bassoon and Harp (1943): III. La vierge et l'enfant 03:04
• 20 Jolivet: Pastorales de Noël for Flute, Bassoon and Harp (1943): IV. Entrée et danse de bergers 02:22
• Total Runtime 01:08:44

Info for Jolivet: Chamber Music

A fine Danish chamber ensemble brings together a unique compilation of chamber pieces by an overshadowed contemporary of Messiaen.

The music of André Jolivet (1905–1974) is slowly being revived after decades of neglect, enabling us to discover a distinctive voice in the kaleidoscopic variety of 20th-century French music. Jolivet never followed some of his better-known contemporaries – Messiaen among them – down the path of serialism, yet his harmonic technique exercised a hidden influence on them (including the young Pierre Boulez). The Serenade (1945) for wind quintet, opening this collection of chamber music, casts a mystic air in its opening Cantilene before breaking off into wild peals of instrumental laughter in the Caprice. The world of Poulenc and Stravinsky is not so far away, but there is a grounded density to Jolivet’s writing which is entirely individual.

From 1968, the Controversia for oboe and harp finds Jolivet at his most gesturally experimental, drawing on the combined talents and innovative techniques of Heinz and Ursula Holliger. The flurries and confrontations of the Controversia could hardly be predicted from the composer of the reflective miniatures which make up the Petite Suite (1941) for flute, viola, and harp, in the mould of Debussy’s late sonata. Indeed, the collection as a whole serves as an illuminating demonstration of Jolivet’s range and his evolution through a career spanning the turbulent aesthetic struggles of the last century.

The Pastorales de Noël (1943) for flute, bassoon, and harp fulfil a brief for picturesque and festive illustration, whereas the sonatinas for flute and clarinet (1961) and oboe and bassoon (1963) swoop and flutter with unpredictably Stravinskian fluidity between their instruments. Modal and exotic scales, Spanish rhythms, Debussyan sensuality: all these diverse elements and more keep the listener (and musicians) on their toes in this music. The album is enhanced by a new essay from Paul Griffiths, a pre-eminent authority on new and modern music.

Ensemble MidtVest

Ensemble MidtVest
When ten brilliant young musicians come together in a newly founded ensemble, an energy that as a whole is much greater than the sum of the ten individuals emerges. If you then add the support of a whole region, a solid basis for future development has been created. The Ensemble MidtVest was founded in 2002 and consists of a string quartet, a wind quintet and a pianist. With this versatile and colourful cast it is our main goal to perform and convey a wide repertoire of classical chamber music.

With its background in classical music the Ensemble MidtVest repeatedly moves onto new and experimental ground. Our projects on boundless music in line with other art genres and styles address everyone who would like to discover new areas. For this reason the ensemble received its first artistic consultant in 2007: The jazz star Carsten Dahl will develop - together with the musicians of the ensemble - new musical concepts in the borderland between the various music aesthetic genres and forms of expression.

But also when the ensemble performs in smaller settings, there is often room for very versatile music and the possibility to integrate other art genres. The Ensemble MidtVest often works together with both composers and writers, and film and dance will play a greater role in our upcoming projects. This highly varied artistic range will expand even more when the Ensemble MidtVest moves into the new House of Art in Herning in 2009; then the visual arts will also increasingly be integrated into the ensemble's program.

No matter how good the music is, the audience usually gets the most out of the performance if it is challenging and especially formed to suit the different audience groups. The Ensemble MidtVest is the country's only ensemble that employs its own music mediator: Steen Chr. Steensen is the contact person for schools, music schools, museums and other interest groups. He also develops educational projects, holds "concert introduction talks" and coaches the ensemble's musicians for when they themselves talk on stage about music, musicians and the musical life.

The Ensemble MidtVest is one of Denmark's five basis ensembles and is based in Herning. The musicians perform both in large and small cities in Western Jutland and often also in other parts of the country and in the capital Copenhagen. The local connection to our region is strengthened through a wide network of event organisers, artistic partners, local music societies and, last but not least, the Friends of the Ensemble. Every year in the beginning of July, all the fans meet at the ensemble's own chamber music festival on the manor Nørre Vosborg on the Danish West coast.

Despite its young age the Ensemble MidtVest has travelled abroad several times, last in 2006 when the ensemble performed together with actors from the Odin theatre at the Ravenna Festival in Italy. In March 2007 the ensemble toured through Sweden together with the jazz pianist Lars Jansson and his trio, and in September the ensemble had a very successful performance at the Royal Danish Embassy in Berlin.

The Ensemble MidtVest is financially supported by the music committee of the Danish Art Council and by the four municipalities Herning, Holstebro, Ikast-Brande and Struer. Apart from that, the ensemble collaborates closely with several sponsors.

Vagn Holmboe (1909-1996) - Composer
Vagn Holmboe (1909-96) is the most prominent Danish symphonist since Carl Nielsen. With his teaching and his many works from a composing career of over sixty years, Holmboe has a great influence on Danish music and Nordic music in general. He composed about 400 works, and has now finally achieved his definitive international breakthrough. Holmboe`s music is luminously clear and precise, striking in its lines and rhythms. Over the years Holmboe was greatly preoccupied with the folk music principle of going straight to the core of the music. He combined this with his own symphonic turn of mind, with roots as far back as Haydn. Even in his shorter pieces Holmboe was unmistakably a symphonist. The structures are clear and strong, and the music develops organically from simple material into a balanced totality. Holmboe`s central genres are the symphony and the string quartet. He composed fourteen symphonies and 21 string quartets in the finest European tradition. In addition we must single out his instrumental concertos (from 1939 until 1956 he wrote thirteen concertos for one or more soloists and chamber orchestra), and the choral works, several of which are already classics of Nordic music and are sung by both professionals and amateurs. Holmboe himself has long enjoyed classic status as one of the leading Nordic composers of this century.

Booklet for Jolivet: Chamber Music