Soirs étrangers Op.56 (1928)

Grenade (Granada)

Sur le léman (On Lake Geneva)

Venise (Venice)

Steppe canadien (Canadian Plains)

Poissons chinois (Chinese Fish)

Louis Vierne’s fame as an organist and composer of organ symphonies has seriously overshadowed his achievement in other areas. Although he spent 37 years as organist at Notre Dame in Paris, in a career parallel to that of Charles-Marie Widor at St Sulpice, there is nothing of the organ loft in his songs and his chamber music, least of all Soirs étrangers (Evenings abroad) for cello and piano. Grenade is a colourful example of    the skill of French composers of his generation – he was a close contemporary of Ravel – in creating an authentic Andalusian atmosphere. Lake Geneva inspired a masterfully extended, highly expressive melodic line for cello against a background of bells echoing in the piano part, while the canals of Venice gave the composer an opportunity to create his own eventful version of the barcarolle. The desolate Canadian plains he saw from his train (though his sight was much impaired) on his North American tour in 1927 seem to have plunged him into passionate and prolonged melancholy. Poisson chinois, on the other hand, is a delightful impression of fluid, darting movement, beautifully written for both instruments.