French Music for Two Pianos

“This release from the repertoire-exploring Martin Jones and his piano partner Adrian Farmer brings together works for two pianos or one piano-four hands by three French composers from the late 19th and early 20th centuries: Reynaldo Hahn (1874-1947), Charles Koechlin (1867-1950) and Germaine Tailleferre (1892-1983)… Recording quality is pristine, and the two pianists play this repertoire with true understanding. Altogether, an absolute delight.” limelightmagazine.com.au [read complete review]

“There's an enormous amount of material to digest on the release, but the investment of time and attention is rewarded. The pianists deliver the pieces with immense feeling and technical finesse, their affection for the composers' material and their connection to it evident at every moment. Hahn, Koechlin, and Tailleferre couldn't have asked, it seems, for a better piano duo to speak on their behalf than Jones and Farmer.” Textura [read complete review]

Martin Jones “has been one of the most prestigious solo pianists in Great Britain since he began to be internationally known in 1968, when he received the Dame Myra Hess Award. Jones has made over ninety recordings with Nimbus Records. On the other hand, Adrian Farmer trained as an accompanist at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, after studying music at the University of Birmingham. He is also a Nimbus Records artist who has recorded as an accompanist… Le ruban dénoué, a work of great rhythmic originality and melodic variety, is a suite of waltzes written, as the author said, to "avoid boredom". Hahn's musical activity coincided with that period of French artistic endeavor often called la belle époque, the period between the end of the Franco-Prussian War and World War I. The first album ends with the Suite for Two Pianos, Op. 6, and the Suite for Piano Four Hands, Op. 19, by Parisian Charles Koechlin, composer, photographer and astronomer. The second disc contains Koechlin's Sonatines françaises (French Sonatines), Op. 60, and eight works by the composer – quite unknown in England – Germaine Tailleferre; A selection ranging from 1917 to 1979. Martin Jones and Adrian Farmer show off the beauty of piano timbre, the wisdom of sound regulators, balanced and sometimes effusive, and extraordinary expressiveness.”  Núria Serra, Sonogram Magazine

"French Works for Two Pianos is distinguished by the piano duo artistry of Martin Jones and Adrian Farmer, but the two deserve as much credit for their inspired curatorial choices. In presenting beguiling works by Charles Koechlin (1867-1950), Reynaldo Hahn (1874-1947), and Germaine Tailleferre (1892-1983), they remind us that there is considerably more to French piano music than Debussy, Ravel, and Fauré. The double-CD set offers both an instructive lesson in music history and 150 minutes of genuine listening pleasure. Jones and Farmer are eminently qualified to take on the project. Since coming to international attention in 1968, Jones has made more than ninety recordings with Nimbus Records, including the complete works of eighteen composers. Farmer is a sought-after accompanist who's recorded with a number of Nimbus artists, among them bass-baritone Shura Gehrman, soprano Charlotte de Rothschild, and pianists Nina Walker, Simon Callaghan, and, of course, Jones. Two well-received volumes of music by Saint-Saëns preceded this latest release by the duo…

Hahn's represented by three works, the second of which, the twelve-part Le ruban dénoué (1915) is, at thirty-eight minutes, the most substantial. Leading in to it, however, is Caprice mélancolique pour deux pianos (1897), which immediately captivates for the gracefulness and poise of the writing as well as the sensitivity with which the pianists render it. One hears throughout the five-minute scene-setter and in the pieces that follow each pianist attending carefully to the other, embroidering their lines with care, and synchronizing thoughtfully considered modulations of dynamics and tempo…

Like Hahn, Koechlin's represented by three pieces… Two of the pieces, Suite pour piano Op. 19 (1901) and Sonatines Françaises, were recorded using two pianos rather than as a piano duet, Jones and Farmer feeling that the writing lent itself better to this different approach by eliminating any possibility of clashing fingers. In its opening movements, the 1901 suite calls J. S. Bach to mind in its graceful counterpoint; the spirited third and fifth movements, on the other hand, are marked by vigour and an almost childlike playfulness…

Tailleferre's works are perfectly tailored for a project of Jones and Farmer's type as she often wrote her scores in a two-piano format before creating more elaborate arrangements for other contexts. Her Jeux de Plein Air (1917), which supposedly prompted Satie to deem her his ‘musical daughter,' opens with an almost gamelan-styled propulsion in “La Tirelitentaine” before capping it with acrobatic flourishes and charging pulses in “Cache-cache mitoula.” … There's an enormous amount of material to digest on the release, but the investment of time and attention is rewarded. The pianists deliver the pieces with immense feeling and technical finesse, their affection for the composers' material and their connection to it evident at every moment. Hahn, Koechlin, and Tailleferre couldn't have asked, it seems, for a better piano duo to speak on their behalf than Jones and Farmer." Textura

“The lovely surprise came in the shape of Charles Koechlin who, as well as being a well-known eccentric, also had a sense of humour. His two Suites and four Sonatinas are a delight, redolent of French nursery songs even while being put through their contrapuntal paces. Their delicacy and elegant shaping help explain why so many of the young French composers, Tailleferre included, went to Koechlin for advice.” Roger Nichols

Their coordination is well-nigh perfect. Even more impressive is each performer’s ability to bring out the instrumental colours of their part, as well as the individual contrapuntal lines. This brilliant collection of music deserves to be well known. - William Kreindler, musicwebinternational

French Works for Two Pianos is distinguished by the piano duo artistry of Martin Jones and Adrian Farmer, but the two deserve as much credit for their inspired curatorial choices. In presenting beguiling works by Charles Koechlin (1867-1950), Reynaldo Hahn (1874-1947), and Germaine Tailleferre (1892-1983), they remind us that there is considerably more to French piano music than Debussy, Ravel, and Fauré. The double-CD set offers both an instructive lesson in music history and 150 minutes of genuine listening pleasure. Jones and Farmer are eminently qualified to take on the project…David Jones' liner notes provide illuminating background to the works and succinct overviews of the composers' styles…

There's nothing dull about the material, however, which seduces the moment “Decrets indolents du hazard” introduces it with an air of sensuous languour and “Les soirs d'Albi” follows it with lively dance gestures. Whereas “Le demi-sommeil embaumé” entrances for being aromatic and dreamy…Like Hahn, Koechlin's represented by three pieces, even if one of them, 1919's Sonatines Françaises Op. 60, comprises four multi-part Sonatines….Two of the pieces, Suite pour piano Op. 19 (1901) and Sonatines Françaises, were recorded using two pianos rather than as a piano duet, Jones and Farmer feeling that the writing lent itself better to this different approach by eliminating any possibility of clashing fingers. In its opening movements, the 1901 suite calls J. S. Bach to mind in its graceful counterpoint; the spirited third and fifth movements, on the other hand, are marked by vigour and an almost childlike playfulness…Tailleferre's works are perfectly tailored for a project of Jones and Farmer's type as she often wrote her scores in a two-piano format before creating more elaborate arrangements for other contexts…

There's an enormous amount of material to digest on the release, but the investment of time and attention is rewarded. The pianists deliver the pieces with immense feeling and technical finesse, their affection for the composers' material and their connection to it evident at every moment. Hahn, Koechlin, and Tailleferre couldn't have asked, it seems, for a better piano duo to speak on their behalf than Jones and Farmer. - Ron Schepper, Textura