In their first full-length album, I Giardini, a collective of French chamber musicians, center the music of Ernest Chausson. The Concert in D major, Op. 21 for violin, piano, and string quartet is a masterly work on the borderline between chamber music and orchestra, featuring violinist Pierre Fouchenneret and I Giardini’s co-artistic director, pianist David Violi. I Giardini also deliver a previously unpublished version of Poème, Op. 25, reworked for violin, piano and string quartet, again with Fouchenneret as soloist. The album concludes with a star turn for co-artistic director and cellist Pauline Buet performing a transcription for cello of the third movement from Chausson’s song cycle Poème de l’amour et de la mer and singing the popular song “Le temps du lilas” by the French singer Barbara (Monique Andrée Serf), both accompanied by David Violi.

Chausson had a short musical career, starting only after earning a law degree at his father’s insistence, and then dying at 44 in a bicycle accident. His rarely heard Concert makes a big impression. Essentially a violin concerto in chamber form, it covers a wide range of colors and textures. This is Romantic music, but there’s a hint of what would come from Chausson’s descendants, including Debussy.
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