Alexandre Tansman has incorporated a wide variety of styles and references in his large oeuvre, but has always created his very own tone and timbre. His personal style is often rhythmically accentuated, contains delicate melodic lines which, however, never last too long and often have rather short internal structures, as well as refined and fine orchestrations which always have a great clarity of sound in the foreground. The following five works offer an overview of a wide variety of genres, but are all unmistakably “tansmanien”:

Bric-à-brac

Ballet en 3 tableaux

3.2.2.2.1 — 4.3.3.1 — timb - 4 perc - pno - cél — cordes [divisées]

1935 

30 min

In Tansman's ballet, with its revue-like character, there are emotional romantic episodes reminiscent of ballet classics such as Tchaikovsky's “Nutcracker”, as well as lively references to jazz and popular music from the 1920s and 1930s. But this superficial lightness is precisely what makes it so charming: For example, behind a joyful waltz melody, as heard shortly before the finale of the work, boldly orchestrated and playing towards an emphatic climax, there is always a mischievous undertone. The chromatic accompanying voices are a touch too chromatic to avoid being irritating. However, it is not the kind of bitterly cold irony that Stravinsky occasionally stages, but rather an affectionate, warm irony.

Concertino pour guitare et orchestre

2 / 2 / 2 / 2 — 2 / 2 / 0 / 0 — timb. - cél. — cordes (divisées)

1945

20 min

In this short concerto for guitar and orchestra, the accompaniment is greatly reduced, with largely delicate lay notes in the winds and flageolets in the strings creating a very clear, accentuated and gentle basic mood that keeps the guitar in the foreground at all times. The not-so-toccata-like toccata is also interesting, in which the lively rhythm pauses for longer every now and then to ensure lyrical moments here too. A very fine gem.

Rapsodie hébraique

Pour orchestre

2 / 2 / 2 / 2 — 4 / 3 / 3 / 1 — timb. - 2 perc. - pno - cél. — cordes (divisées)

1933 

8 min

This work also exists in a piano version, but this orchestral version does not seem to have been recorded yet and has apparently not been performed for many decades, which is surprising given the urgency of the Klezmer-like melodic line. A melancholy part, which always seems to strive forward and finally leads into a surprisingly radiant major part, gives the work an intensity that the listener cannot escape - the melodies always remain the primacy until the end, which at the end form a reduced nostalgic reference to the two previous parts of the work.

Rapsodie polonaise

Pour orchestre

3 / 3 / 3 / 2 / 1 — 4 / 3 / 3 / 1 — timb. - 4 perc. - pno - cél. — cordes (divisées)

1940

11 min

In 1940, Tansman was already on the run from the National Socialists and initially made his way from Paris to the south of France before emigrating to the USA. There he wrote another Rapsodie, this time a “Polish” one, in which impressively distorted melodic lines are majestically laid over harmonically complex chord blocks that repeatedly become rhythmically stuck. The oboe and clarinet are the driving instruments for long stretches, and here too there are parallels to Stravinsky. Tansman's genius, however, lies in the transition from the more rhythmically accentuated sections to the lyrical parts of the work, which repeatedly break out.

Tombeau de Chopin

Pour quintette (orchestre) à cordes

1949

9 min

MCA/Universal (USA)

All three movements of this work develop from a small motif core. The piece begins mysteriously with dark dissonant chords and a cello melody that repeats a concise motif. The second movement, the “Mazurka”, is rhythmic, and due to the many structural repetitions of the accompanying motifs, a similarity to Chopin's mazurkas can only be heard very indirectly, rather similarities to Stravinsky can also be heard here. The surprisingly lyrical middle section is more reminiscent of the composition's namesake. The postlude at the end forms a very spiritual and sensitive conclusion to this masterpiece, which is very unknown in its string orchestra version.