Little Symphony No.1 Le Printemps Op.43

Allant - Chantant – Et vif!

Little Symphony No.2 Pastorale Op.49

Joyeux – Calme – Joyeux

Among the music Milhaud brought back from Brazil in 1918, after spending two formative years as secretary to Paul Claudel in the French Embassy in Rio de Janeiro, was a collection of maxixes and tangos that would later be incorporated in his most popular work, Le Boeuf sur le toit. Alongside them was the first of his Little Symphonies, Le Printemps (Spring), which was an early experiment in the polytonal technique which would be such a prominent feature of Le Boeuf sur le toit.

“What I wanted to do,” he said, “was to provide each instrument with an independent melodic line or tonality.” Eager to hear the effect of his new technique he arranged a performance of the First Little Symphony in Rio and was surprised to find that the audience was shocked not so much by its sound as by its brevity. In fact, the three short movements – scored for    piccolo, flute, clarinet, oboe, harp, and string quartet – are perfectly timed. While the rhythmic vitality and melodic interest would have sustained a bigger work, the clashing tonalities, which are so intriguing at this modest length, could not have been prolonged without discomfort.

Fascinated by “the unusual quality of small groups of instruments,” Milhaud went on to complete a series of six Little Symphonies by 1923. The second of the them was written on the voyage back from Rio to Paris in 1918. Scored for cor anglais, bassoon, violin, viola, cello, double bass, it is harmonically bolder than the first, less inclined to compromise by finding an easy way into each movement. It justifies is “Pastorale” title, however, in its rustic opening Joyeux, its thoughtful and comparatively extended Calme and its metrically ingenious Joyeux at the end.