VINCENT D'INDY (1851-1931): Suite in D "Dans le style ancien" for 2 Flutes, Trumpet and String Quartet, Op. 24, Chanson et danses for Flute, Oboe, 2 Clarinets, 2 Bassoons and Horn, Op. 50, Piano Quintet, Op. 81, Suite en parties for Flute, Harp and String Trio, Op.91.

Description: Commissioned by the same Parisian chamber music association for which Saint-Saëns delivered his Septet, D'Indy's Suite in D (1886) is also a "septet with trumpet" although the two flutes make for an entirely different sound and harmonies which were considered startling at the time. A light piece, brilliant and full of open-air good nature. From 1898, the melody of the Chanson is a very close relative of Wagner's Siegfried Idyll while the Danses were inspired by a stay in Barcelona. From much later, the piano quintet (1924) shows the elderly composer abandoning the weight and seriousness of Franck, Pierné and Schmitt and giving us an almost divertimento-like four-movement work which lasts barely 21 minutes, full of life - the music of a man in his 20s. Ditto for the Suite en parties of 1924 (whose first recording we offered last month on Timpani's 2 CD set of historical recordings by the Quintette Instrumental de Paris). Soloists of the Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra, Quatuor Louvigny.