Quatuor Arthur-LeBlanc, Stéphane Lemelin - Pierné, Vierne: Piano Quintets (2015)

As part of the series Musique française : Découvertes 1890-1939, with pianist Stéphane Lemelin, ATMA Classique presents the Piano Quintets by French composers Louis Vierne and Gabriel Pierné. Pierné left 20 or so works of chamber music, including the Quintette en trois parties Op. 41, in E minor, for piano and strings, composed in 1916-17. This piece was dedicated to Gabriel Fauré, and premiered at the Société nationale de musique on February 22, 1919 by the Quatuor Bastide, with Gabriel Pierné on piano. In 1918, devastated and enraged by the death of his son, Louis Vierne wrote to his friend the organist Maurice Blazy: Im developing, as an ex-voto [a votive offering], a quintet of very large scale through which will flow abundantly the breath of my tender affection and the tragic fate of my child. Composed in Switzerland in 1917-18, the Quintette was premiered on April 23, 1920 at the Geneva Conservatory, with the composer at the piano.