Concerto #2 - ASX(CL)/BSN/PN

I. Prelude

II. Allegro moderato

III. Intermede

IV. Final

This work is unique in the chamber music literature, if only for its unusual instrumentation. The four-movement work explores a variety of moods. The first, with its preponderance of arpeggiated chords in the keyboard creates a mood of early Baroque music. The second consists of a dialogue between the two wind instrument, while the third seems to be influenced by the Gymnopedies of Erik Satie. The final movements creates a mood of sinister tension with melodic passages in octaves in the saxophone and bassoon over a busy keyboard accompaniment. Edited by Trevor Cramer.

ABOUT THE COMPOSER:

Roesgen-Champion studied at the Conservatoire de Musique de Genève, notably with Marie Panthès. From 1926 she lived as a composer in Paris. She composed works for orchestra, harpsichord, and piano, as well as chamber and choral works.

As a pianist she performed several piano concertos by Mozart and Haydn. On harpsichord she performed compositions for harpsichord by Jean-Henry d'Anglebert and Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach.

In 1940 Roesgen-Champion founded a concert series entitled Suites Française which was used a showcase for students of distinction from the Paris Conservatory. She also supported the Orchestre Jane Evrard (also known as the Orchestre féminin de Paris), founded by Jane Evrard, which was an all-female chamber orchestra that performed contemporary works including the premiere of Guy Ropartz' Petite Suite.