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Serenade, Opus 30for flute, violin, viola, cello and harp
| Written: 1925 | Premiered: Paris, Oct. 15, 1925 Paris Instrumental Quintet |
| Length: 16 minutes | Three movements: Allegro Andante Presto |
| Publisher: Durand | Dedication: Rene le Roy |
About this Work:|
The Serenade is a beautiful, exciting piece of music that bears the
strong imprint of a creative and original mind. It's probably my favorite of Roussel's chamber works, with a noticeable resemblance to an orchestral favorite, Concert pour petit orchestre, written the following year. Listening to this work, it's easy to forget that you're hearing a mere five performers; the scope of the writing is nearly orchestral.
The first movement starts with a long flute melody over string and harp accompaniment. The effect is pastoral, but with an increasingly insistent—and accelerating—beat. Indeed, Roussel uses the sense of ever-increasing speed to lift the piece above the mere pastoral. The second movement is an exquisite little masterpiece that opens with a calm, beautiful, yet otherworldly feel. Following the pastoral jocularity of the first movement, this otherworldliness is particularly effective. The flute is featured throughout the first part of this movement, followed by a second theme in the cello, ushered in by a harp solo. The "conversation" between flute and cello (combining the opening flute theme with that of the cello) provides a marvelous conclusion to the movement; its gentle contemplativeness is like two old friends conversing amiably on a summer's porch. As in so many of Roussel's works, the slow movement is the high point. The third movement contrasts with the previous one in its emphasis on rhythm and interplay, rather than accompanied melody. There is a beautiful slow section where the flute takes the unaccustomed role of ostinato, rather than melody. This section has a very "modern" feel to it—not in the sense of dissonance, but in the sense of calm beauty and stasis common in the works of composers such as Gorecki and Part. |
How does it sound?| Here is part of the beautiful contrapuntal "conversation" between flute and strings (143K WAV file) in the second movement |
Other opinions:|
The Serenade is a masterpiece, one of Roussel's supreme successes, and totally original. The writing is exceptionally clear and omits the bass voices — which inspired Roland-Manuel's clever phrase, "Music less for feet than for wings." [Harry Halbreich]
The Serenade for flute, harp and string trio is the mature successor to the Divertissement. [Basil Deane] Some have called Roussel's chamber works, "music for musicians"—a snide inference of overintellectuality. But the fluid and fluent course of [the Serenade]... nullifies this point of view. [Arthur Cohn] The best of his chamber music written after 1918 is in the Serenade (1925)... in which the composer's elegant and fastidious side found perfect expression, and close musical thinking is matched with great refinement of sensibility. [Martin Cooper] The best Roussel is found among his chamber and instrumental pieces, which include a piano trio (1902), string trio (1937), and a delightful serenade for flute, violin, viola, cello, and harp (1925). [Norman Lebrecht] The two fast movements surround an andante of intense poetry and simplicity, giving the Serenade an element of fantasy, of the divine humor of Puck dancing in the moonlight through flowers and dreams. [Catalog de l'oeuvre d'Albert Roussel]
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