Colour and Folklore in Tailleferre’s Petite Suite
Photo: Maxime Girard-Tremblay
Nicolas Ellis is Music Director of the Orchestre National de Bretagne, Principal Guest Conductor of Les Violons du Roy, as well as Artistic Director and Conductor of the Orchestre de l’Agora, which he founded in Montreal in 2013. Known for his versatility in a vast repertoire, Nicolas has distinguished himself with the Orchestre de l’Agora by the conception of concerts with a dramaturgical approach. In keeping with the Agora’s outreach mission, Nicolas has set up musical creation projects with teenagers coping with mental illness, educational workshops for children, and a series of monthly concerts for the inmates at the Bordeaux Prison in Montreal. Among the musical encounters and projects that have strongly influenced him are his former position as Artistic Collaborator of the Orchestre Métropolitain and Yannick Nézet-Séguin from 2018 to 2023, and his role as assistant conductor to Raphaël Pichon and the Ensemble Pygmalion in opera productions at the Opéra comique, the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, and the Salzburg Festival. Nicolas Ellis is the recipient of the 2017 Fernand Lindsay Career Grant and has also been awarded the Prix Goyer Mécénat Musica 2021.
[JR] Is this your first time conducting a piece by [Germaine] Tailleferre?
[NE] Yes, it's the first time. Tonight we're performing a new double concerto for cello and harp by a Quebec composer, Denis Gougeon. I know his music because of he wrote a lot for piano and I'm a pianist. I find his aesthetic close to French music, so I thought it would be nice to have a French piece to open the concert. I don't remember how I ended up on Petite Suite. I thought it was really beautiful and I didn’t know Germaine Tailleferre. So I thought it would be a nice discovery for the orchestra as well.
Rehearsing the Petite Suite
So this was a new work for you and Tailleferre’s work is also new to you. Did you have any unique strategies for conducting this work or approaching this work for the first time? No, to be honest, it's not a difficult piece to put together, although there are some beautiful colours in terms of orchestration. But I would say that it is like a lot of good French music, because not all French music is necessarily good, but like the good orchestrators of French music, like Ravel, maybe the first one that comes to mind, or even Poulenc. There are few people like that, and this Petite Suite by Germaine Tailleferre works through the first reading. We didn't have to work very hard to balance this or that. It works really well by itself. So it's like a breath of fresh air when we do it in rehearsal between the new piece by Gougeon where we have a much more work to do with balance and things, and the Shostakovich which is very, very dark in a way. This is much brighter.
Speaking of instrumental combinations, I have a couple that stand out to me, but maybe do you want to go first? Are there any that stand out to you? Well, it's a very intriguing orchestration because she writes pour petit orchestre and it's not that much of a small orchestra. We're playing it, because we have the rest of the program, and we have someone that plays only the piccolo instead of the flute player that would move from one instrument to the other. But you have a tuba and a trombone and one trumpet and three horns. And then even for the percussion, there are three players. And you have harp, piano, celeste, and then, of course all the strings. So for me, the petit orchestre is not so small. It's true that the woodwinds could maybe be done with only one per instrument instead of two per section, but I still find that there's a lot of possibilities with this kind of instrumentation because it's quite varied.
So there's that. The way that even the first few bars use the piano reminded me of Printemps by Debussy, because there's also piano four-hands that is doubled by the harp, and it looks very busy on the score because there's a lot going on, but actually it turns out to sound very transparent.
And with the roll of the timpani, it could seem like maybe it's going to be in the way, but it turns out to be really nice. And then when it arrives to the Allegro with the celeste and the harp, we were trying to find a way; the way we rehearsed this is that I asked the celeste and the harp to play only by themselves, and then to ask the strings, because it kind of sounds like a music box, to find a way that the pizzicati are like just the colour of the harp and the celeste and not in the way too much. So finding the right balance for that was fun and it's just also so beautiful. It's simple, but so efficient in terms of sound. And even harmonically, when you when you look at it, it's basically one chord throughout.
It's just a big pedal, right? Yes, it's quite impressive. Just with very simple chords and relatively simple orchestration to write. This was actually really fun to do and to perform.
I'd say in the “Sicilienne”, it's quite intriguing in terms of the violas; it is kind of weird that they come in on that off-beat with the oboe. It seems awkward, but we found a way to make it sound naturally. You would have thought that maybe they would have just doubled the oboe, or maybe they wouldn't play at all. But anyways, it works out well.
And then "Les filles de la Rochelle"…
That one sort of has a slow buildup, the final movement. It does and I personally found that quarter-note equals 108 is a bit slow to my taste for this kind of traditional sailor song. So we're taking it a bit faster just to make it a bit more … I don't know if “jolly” is the right word, but something that dances a bit more. I did take the small liberty at the very end because of the downbeat of m.69 to ask the harp to start the glissando at the beginning of the bar. Maybe in another another hall it would be different, but because this hall resonates a lot we couldn't hear this glissando in the harp because of the resonance of the timpani before and the chord of the orchestra. So they really hear [imitates glissando] to hear something.
Actually, now that you say that in the commercial recording I was listening to, I don't even think I noticed that harp gliss. So that's a good catch. At least when we did it in a rehearsal, we couldn’t hear it. So it really is a very small detail but it just adds to that colour at the end.
Right. So what did you say you did to make the harp stand out? Instead of starting on that eight note, it starts at the very beginning of the bar. So, she does the gliss. throughout the whole beat of that bar.
Right. Very cool. If I could just bring it back to the first movement, one spot that really caught my eye was the pairing of the muted trumpet with the piccolo 2 octaves above. Did you have any challenges with balancing that? Actually, no. But you're right, it is a beautiful doubling. It works really well. And the trumpet, because it has a mute, can actually play quite soft. So, we didn't have any issues in terms of balance and because they are two octaves apart, we hear very clearly the two tones.
Harmonic language and the integration of folk elements
I would like to talk about the parallel fifths and octaves. Yes, in the “Sicilienne”?
Yes. Do you feel like that works with the modal character? Or is it more of an orchestrational effect? Good question. I don't know. For me, they're there. They're parallel triads. But of course, those fifths come out a lot because the harp plays only the fifths. But I think for some reason it seems to me like it's part of that harmonic language of French music of the beginning of the 20th century. It stands out very quickly. Aside from the orchestration, we hear it right away. It's very beautiful, but I wouldn't be able to say what she was thinking exactly about the “Sicilienne”. I believe she wrote this for TV. I wrote down that she wrote it for the Radio diffusion de la division française. I don't know. Was it for a show? I'm not sure what it was for.
It was for a film noir soundtrack, and they went with the Miles Davis improvisation instead, which seems completely different. But you say it was for a movie?
Maybe not that movement. OK. Interesting. But do you know there are a few versions of “Les filles de La Rochelle”?
Yes, I wasn't familiar with this tune, but now I'm fortunate enough to know. I told the musicians that there are different versions of this, the words of this song, but I didn't dare develop too much, because you know it?
It's a little raunchy, right? Yes, exactly. I don't know if she had a particular version in mind when she wrote that, but at the end of the day it's a sailor song, and I think it keeps the character of something that folks dance to.
And there's an interesting blend of the French suite and folk elements, especially in the first movement. You get that G-flat major drone, and then you get this sailor song. It’s an interesting blend of two disparate influences, right? Yes, I think in many ways it's a great work to open a concert with because it has all these different, beautiful colours and it opens your ears. It's a good way to get people ready and open all the different textures of the concert that you might hear in a performance. So, it really feels like a very fun and cool piece, both for musicians and audience.
Barriers to performing Tailleferre’s music
I have a general question about performing pieces by Tailleferre. Do you think there are any barriers to performing her works? Why do you think this hasn't been performed in 30 years by the Orchestre Métropolitain? Someone sent me an interview she had on France-Musique. Maybe you've heard it. I can send it to you, but it's in French. How good is your French?
I'm working on it. I'll send it to you because it was interesting to hear her voice and with the interviewer she discusses what it is as a woman to compose and how her music is viewed or maybe the presumptions that people might have. That, I thought, was maybe touching or, in a way, maybe a bit sad. From this short interview (actually it's an hour long interview because there are a lot of musical excerpts from her music), she says that she really felt fortunate to be able to lead a musical career. But at the same time, she found it really hard as a woman because it was very clear that she had to work much harder than men to be performed. Even in those times, the interview was in the 60s or 70s. She's looking back at her career, and she puts it more eloquently than I do, but basically that even back then, if they need a piece for a concert, they'll first go to the big names, like Ravel or Debussy and then if they want something different, they'll choose a male composer, because that's just how it was and what comes to mind. Even though her colleagues Poulenc and Cocteau seem to have had quite a lot of respect for her. But in the industry at least, the people who would end up choosing what the program for a concert was, unfortunately, they were not as curious as her fellow composers were to discover her music.
I think that's why now we try to include more women composers, also more women conductors, and more people that have a diversity of background, that have different ethnic backgrounds, so that we can have a full appreciation of all the music that was written and all the great performers and composers that we have today.
So I think it's just unfortunate that her music hasn't been more played, but I'm quite confident you know that it's like Chaminade. I think that's beautiful music too. I think that we realize how much beautiful, extraordinary music we've put aside for no reason, and now it's fun to be able to bring these pieces to the concert hall because the musicians are happy to play them because they’re fresh. They discover something they didn't know, the audience as well.
Tailleferre’s compositional proclivities
Are there any particular spots that stand out as challenging to conduct? You said that this piece pretty much puts itself together. And in a good way. Not because it's less interesting. On the contrary, because that's what happens when you have a composer who knows what he or she is doing. When it works, it works, and you don't have to give a million indications to musicians about balance and making people play together. So it's really a treat to do this kind of music.
I did read that Tailleferre said somewhere that she thought that musicians are smart people and they'll know what to do. Basically, you don't need to over-indicate in the score. Yes, exactly. That makes sense. And also in that interview I listened to, she was talking about the whole contemporary music movement that was going on during the 20th century, and she apparently tried to develop a curiosity for it (I don't know if she wrote some dodecaphonic works, I doubt it, but I think she at least tried) and she said “It's just not me and I just like to write whatever feels true to me.” And that's really how it feels. We play this music, and I wouldn't say, “Oh, it reminds me of this period of Ravel, or whatever?” It's just her. It's totally her colour, and it feels completely genuine and that's what she likes to write. It's completely honest and that's what comes out. At the first reading, we don't feel it's someone trying to be someone else.
Yeah it is interesting. I've looked at some of her earlier works too, like Jeux de plein air from 1918, her Ballade, and these works seem to have a pretty similar harmonic language across her whole lifetime of composing. It's really interesting that she was so stable, especially for 1957. This doesn't seem like it would have been too neoclassical for the audiences of the time in a more avant-garde scene. No, that's it. Some people write avant-garde music of the 20th century. But if they're genuinely into it, it will work and you get into it. But if you're someone who tries to write weird music and it feels artificial as performers, we kind of grasp that. So there's no need for someone to do that. And I think I'd much rather do something that feels honest and feels genuine, like this.
Characterizing Tailleferre’s style
Do you have any ideas of how you would characterize her style? What makes her different from her contemporaries? Or her colleagues? It's hard to say because I haven't studied the rest of her music, although I was mentioning the string quartet because I was trying to listen to other stuff she wrote and trying to think of maybe including other works that she composed in future concerts that I will get to conduct, like her string quartet but in a string orchestra version.
But I'm not sure I would dare to try to say exactly what makes her style different from everybody else. But I will say that it is something to perform, even if it's a six-minute piece, and to sense that right away that there's an honesty behind it. It's also completely her own colour. Harmonically and in certain colours, we feel something of the French era of the beginning of the 20th century, naturally, which is, I think normal.
I mentioned a little bit D’un matin de printemps by Debussy that reminded me of this beginning here that I thought was really beautiful. But that’s if we're trying to build parallels with her contemporaries. But I still think that as soon as we arrive in the Allegro, this is completely her.
I don't know this theme [sings the Allegro melody in the “Prelude”]. I don't know what it is. It sounds like a folk traditional song, maybe. And the “Sicilienne” has that and “Les filles de la Rochelle” as well. I like how in this piece at least (I can't say for all her work) there's a mix of traditional folk melodies integrated into an orchestration and a harmonic language that seems to belong to what you could generally characterize as the beginning of the 20th century Impressionism, but also some nice Poulenc colours, for lack of better references.
That's a great summary. In this opening, the chord right before we go into the gigue is really interesting. Do you have any comments on this chord? The whole introduction is supposed to give a feel I think of F# major. And we have a pedal of C# throughout. This chord before rehearsal A also acts like a dominant chord with of course a lot of extensions. We have a 7th. The end of this seems to lead towards F# minor. But if you look at the chord, what is interesting is that the G natural in the oboe will clash with the G# in the second violins. But it still feels like a C# dominant with a 7th. There's the B in the alto, there's the D, which is the minor 9th. It feels like it's going to F# minor, which makes sense, the minor relative to the major beginning, but then we go to the enharmonic relationship of F# major, which is G-flat, so I guess it's very subtle. But at the same time this chord sets up the harmonic surprise of the Allegro. The character of the beginning with all these sharps seems to lead to some minor key. And then finally we have this surprising G-flat major that has a completely different ring than the F# major might have.
The tuba in "Les filles de le Rochelle"
Maybe one more question about texture. If we jump over to page 22, we build up to an orchestral tutti. There seems to be like a lot going on here. Is it a challenge to maintain some sort of independence of the different lines here? Yes! When the tuba comes in.
It's almost a tutti, but then we've got some contrasting motion. It’s the climax of this sort of gigue or the sailor song and-- [sings melody of “Les filles de la Rochelle”]. It's a funny orchestration because of the tuba. I think it's the only part where the tuba comes in, because it only plays in the third movement and it plays all these Bs and then a last A at the end and that's the gig of the tuba. I don't know enough about the context this piece was written for, but at least today it would seem that if someone were commissioned to do this, you would think they would make use of the tuba, either more or just not use it so you don't have to. Sometimes you try to save on the number of musicians you're hiring. The trombone as well. At the same time, it adds to the colour of the xylophone as well, adds to the diversity of the colours. So, I don't have much to say, to be honest, other than the orchestration is intriguing in the sense that there's this tuba that shows up at the very end for all these B's and the final A.
The instruments of the batterie
In the beginning, the percussion is labeled as a “batterie” [drum kit in French]. Is there some sort of convention for what instruments would play the different percussion parts there? It’s true in the score it's not clear. Basically, from what I think I understand, the small notes [points to the top line] are the triangle, and then we have a cymbal for the bottom line, and the middle line would be the tambour de Basque. I should ask why we ended up adding a cymbal there, which is officially not written there? Maybe it's something to investigate with the percussion section. I'll gladly ask them.
Thank you. That would be great because I found one professional recording and then one YouTube recording and they seem to have a different percussion setup so that made me wonder if there wasn't a convention here—if it was a choice. Maybe it's more of a choice. I guess maybe the percussion section decide what they want to put together for that. I got one of the percussionists and he said, indeed, there's no real convention, so they just thought, well, what could have the effect of a batterie and sound good. They're doing as I said, the triangle in the middle line; they have the cymbal up top, and they have the bass drum on the bottom.
But they said at least that listening to different versions they heard different things. There were some markings in their own parts, and they just decided to do a mash-up of whatever they thought seems to work. But it's a very good question. I assumed that they would use the instruments listed here. But it's not exactly what's written.
Right. And those other percussion instruments are indicated at later points, right? But here they aren't. Yes. Thank you for clarifying that for me.
Wrapping up
While I have this page open, this is very cool. This combination between the oboe and the clarinet in measure 12, and then it seems like the flute comes in just to add a little brightness at the end there in m. 13. Yes, an octave lower. It's intriguing.
She really seems interested in different colours with this particular melody, right? Yes, it's true, because she treats it differently every time. Absolutely, it is intriguing.