Les Contemporains, Book 2

In the early 1950s, Parisian publishers Gérard Billaudot and Pierre Noël put together a four-volume anthology of piano miniatures written by some of the brightest stars in contemporary music—mainly French composers, plus some others with connections to Paris. The music spans a wide range of difficulty levels, from easy to quite advanced; nevertheless, these collections were primarily intended for use in the home.

Aside from the delightful nature of these rarely heard gems, one of the true joys of these collections is that the publishers carefully arranged the works in an aesthetically pleasing order, so that one piece flows quite naturally to the next. So aside from being wonderful compendia, these books are also terrific set lists in their own right.

Taken together, the four books feature 62 different composers, each contributing one short work to the whole. A wide variety of styles is represented, but there is a certain unity to the expression as well; most pieces portray themes from childhood or everyday life, and all show the subtlety, intimacy, and delicate attention to sonority that are so characteristic of French music.

The eleven pieces in Book 2 are listed below, followed by short descriptions of each composer.


00:00 — Revel: The Doll’s Dance
01:56 — Gallois-Montbrun: March of the Phantoms
03:16 — Auric: Impromptu in D minor
05:09 — Rivier: The Little Gondolier
06:48 — Schmit: Rigaudon
08:16 — Delannoy: The Capture of Guingamp
12:11 — Dutilleux: Blackbird
13:55 — Yvain: Sérénade à Betty
17:22 — Hoérée: For the First Day of Spring
20:46 — Aubin: Caprice Pastoral
23:25 — Bondeville: Hair in the Wind (Sketch)

Peter Mowrey, piano (http://www.petermowrey.com/)


Aubin, Tony (1907–1981): French composer.

Auric, Georges (1899–1983): French composer.

Bondeville, Emmanuel (1898–1987): French composer and music administrator.

Delannoy, Marcel (1898–1962): French composer and critic.

Dutilleux, Henri (1916–2013): French composer.

Gallois-Montbrun, Raymond (1918–1994): French violinist and composer.

Hoérée, Arthur (1897–1986): Belgian musicologist, critic, conductor, and composer.

Revel, Pierre (1901–1984): French composer.

Rivier, Jean (b. Alexis Fernand Félix Jean Rivier; 1896–1987): French composer.

Schmit, Camille (b. Joseph Camille Schmit; 1908–1976): Belgian composer.

Yvain, Maurice (1891–1965): French composer.


Artwork: Paul Signac, Paris (1923) [public domain]