Salade Lyonnaise

This CD brings together for the first time three major Lyonnais composers of the late 19th and 20th centuries through more than thirty short vocal or instrumental pieces with contrasting and sometimes surprising aesthetics and musical languages.

For the general public, they certainly remain unknown. However, Georges-Martin Witkowski (1867-1943), Claude Terrasse (1868-1923) and Ennemond Trillat (1890-1980) have, through their careers as musicians and composers, directly or indirectly contributed to the influence of Lyon. In addition to their common local origin and their first musical studies in the capital of Gaul, all three then "went up" to Paris - an obligatory step - to perfect their career, each in one of the three famous Parisian musical institutions. Witkowski studied at the Schola Cantorum with Vincent d'Indy; Terrasse continued his organ studies begun at the Lyon Conservatory at the Niedermeyer School with Eugène Gigout; Trillat joined the Paris Conservatory in the piano class of Edouard Risler. He also studied harmony and composition with Théodore Dubois.

An organist in parishes at the beginning of his career, Terrasse turned at the same time to theatre music, where he excelled - it should be noted that he had gained experience as a trumpeter at the Grand Théâtre de Lyon. The "prince of French operetta", as he was nicknamed, contributed to giving a new lease of life to this light genre until the outbreak of the Great War brought about the end of this music which had become too frivolous. He was the conductor of the Opéra-Comique in Paris and very close to the avant-garde literary, theatrical and pictorial artistic circles of his time.

Very involved in Lyon society and a convinced scholar, Witkowski greatly shaped the artistic life of the city of Lyon, which is still indebted to him to this day. Following the model of the Parisian school, which also advocated decentralisation and the democratisation of knowledge, he founded the Schola Cantorum de Lyon (1903), then the Société des Grands Concerts (1905), which would become the Orchestre National de Lyon. As a composer himself, but also as a conductor in touch with contemporary creation and programmer of the musical seasons of the Grands Concerts, it was important to him to cultivate the public of Lyon and to give it the opportunity to hear many creations of his contemporaries. To do this, he acquired a fine tool: the Salle Rameau, inaugurated in 1908. A committed man, he directed the Conservatoire from 1923 to 1941.

Ennemond Trillat led a brilliant and protean career as a teacher, concert pianist, chamber musician, composer and musicologist. He was a piano teacher at the Lyon Conservatoire from 1919, co-founder of the "Trio Trillat" (1921), and succeeded Witkowski as director of the Conservatoire (1941). His presence in Lyon did not prevent him from travelling the world (Europe, countries around the Mediterranean, Canada, etc.) to give concerts that gave pride of place to French music. He worked with the great composers of his time (Debussy, Poulenc, etc.) and played with renowned performers (Ninon Vallin, Claire Croiza, etc.). In 1942, he founded the Cercle d'études musicales universitaires, showing his taste for combining the interpretation of works with discourse on them. Some radio broadcasts, in particular, preserve the memory of the lecture-recitals that he offered to listeners.

These three Lyonnais composers with singular destinies are thus brought together in this new disc. They deal with Rabelaisian and epicurean themes, humour and folklore through scenes of everyday life or love life, funny characters, animals with healing powers, flowers as messengers, culinary recipes, all set to a musical background that is either archaic or resolutely modern.

Isabelle Bretaudeau
Maîtresse de conférences en Musicologie
Université Lumière Lyon 2

Reviews on... -> France Musique/Etonnez-moi Benoît - Pizzicato - Froggy's delight - Diapason

Ubu Roi-Ouverture  Claude TERRASSE
La petite qui tousse  Claude TERRASSE
Ubu Roi-Chanson du décervelage  Claude TERRASSE
Sept remèdes chantés  Ennemond TRILLAT
Poèmes amorphes  Claude TERRASSE
Marquises & Sans-culottes  Ennemond TRILLAT
Trois chansons à la charcutière  Claude TERRASSE
Quatre recettes chantées  Ennemond TRILLAT
Chanson écossaise  Claude TERRASSE
Les Adieux  Ennemond TRILLAT
Le Mot et la Chose  Ennemond TRILLAT
Trois poèmes de Ronsard  Georges MARTIN WITKOWSKI
Carillon  Georges MARTIN WITKOWSKI

Arrangements: Julien WEBER (1-3, 14-21, 29-35) and Aurélien COSTE (4-13, 22-28)

Ensemble Kaïnos
Sophie Marchand - Soprano
Jean-Christophe Dantras-Henry - Tenor
François Hollemaert - Tenor
Sebastian Delgado - Baryton
Julien Weber - Oboe and artistic direction
Aurélien Coste - Bassoon
Anna Stavelova - Flute
Elise Veyres - Harp
Louis Quiles - Percussions
Catherine Garonne - Singing leader