Beau Soir

Album Review

Evening, night, and morning seems to be the progression in the program music chosen by violinist Janine Jansen and pianist Itamar Golan on Beau Soir. The opening selections from Debussy, including the brief Beau Soir itself, can be taken to depict a pleasant evening, with Richard Dubugnon's quiet La Minute Exquise introducing the calm moments of early bedtime, along with the advancing sleep of Lili Boulanger's Nocturne. Dreaming is represented in Dubugnon's Hypnos and, perhaps, even a nightmare in Messiaen's Théme et Variations. Then, appropriately, comes Faure's Après un Rêve ("After a Dream"), and a series of Ravel pieces of increasing energy point to the arrival of dawn and new activity. A final Dubugnon effort, Retour à Montfort-Lamaury, begins the cycle over again. Beau Soir is an ambitious collection, especially in the varied demands it makes on the violinist and pianist, who are up to the challenge.