Marcel Mihalovici (top) – Jean Fournet (bottom) a strong bond to neoclassicism

Music of French-Romanian composer Marcel Mihalovici and his Variations for Brass and Strings, performed by the Radio-Orchestra Beromünster, conducted by Jean Fournet in this Radio Zurich recording made on June 5, 1963.

Mihalovici was discovered by George Enescu in Bucharest. He moved to Paris in 1919 (at age 21) to study under Vincent d’Indy. His works include his Sonata number 1 for violin and piano (1920), Mélusine opera (1920, libretto by Yvan Goll), his 1st string quartet (1923), 2nd string quartet (1931), Sonata number 2 for violin and piano (1941), Sonata for violin and cello (1944), Phèdre Opera (1949), Étude in two parts for piano and instrumental ensemble (1951) and Esercizio per archi (1960). Many of his piano works were first performed by his wife, the concert pianist Monique Haas.

Mihalovici was the original composer for the music of Samuel Beckett‘s radio play Cascando (1962). His Fifth Symphony features a soprano singing a setting of a Beckett poem, and he used Krapp’s Last Tape as the basis for a small opera, Krapp, ou, La dernière bande. His memories of their friendship are recounted in the collected work Beckett at Sixty A Festschrift by John Calder, Calder and Boyars (1967).

A strong proponent of neoclassicism, during his career Mihalovici embraced a variety of contemporary styles, with a harmonic language ranging from chromaticism to serialism. Romanian folk music influenced his unconventional use of rhythmic variation and instrumental color.

Jean Fournet , was born on 14 April 1913. Flutist, as was his father, he was named second flute in the l’Orchestre du Théâtre des Arts in his native city of Rouen, at the age of 15, before entering the conducting class of Philippe Gaubert at the Paris Conservatoire, where he studied from from 1930-36. He made his conducting début at Rouen in 1936, and held his first appointments there (1938) and in Marseilles (1940). In 1944 he became director of music at the Opéra-Comique in Paris, where he remained for 13 years until 1957. The same year he took over the conducting class at the Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris, continuing to teach there until 1962. Fournet first conducted in Holland in 1950 with the Concertgebouw Orchestra filling in for an indisposed Eduard van Beinum. That same year he first appeared with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and was appointed their principal conductor eleven years later, a position he held until 1968. He served as music director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra 1968-1973. Since that time he regularly returned to the Netherlands as guest conductor, the 2000/2001 season being the fiftieth anniversary of his collaboration with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra.

On to the concert – enjoy.