Gabriel Grovlez: L'Almanach Aux Images: Piano: Instrumental Work

From Fancies Pour Piano-This Sérénade is the first of 7 pieces collectively called 'Fancies' originally written for piano in 1915.Gabriel Marie Grovlez (1879-1944) was born in Lille Northern France in 1879 and died in war-torn Paris in 1944. From among his teachers who include Gédalge and Lavignac Fauré must surely rank as his strongest influence and this is readily heard in his small but significant oeuvre of solo piano pieces as well as his music for stage and chamber ensembles. Interestingly most of the piano music was published over a period of around a dozen years (1907-1919) and in the lull between these works and his Impressions (two pieces) of 1934 Grovlez wascompositionally preoccupied with songs and chamber pieces many of which languish patiently on the shelf awaiting a wholehearted appraisal. There is as well as his notable penchant for elegance and poetical lyricism a considerable wit to enjoy too (take Les nes The Donkeys from L'Almanach aux images for example) and indeed the fact that Grovlez's middle years were spent fulfilling the duties of assistant conductor and choir leader of the Opéra-Comique seems especially revealing of the man's musical personality and capacity for successfully intertwining serious and less serious genres.Grovlez was quite a cosmopolitan character; besides making a notable mark in his native country (he was latterly a professor of chamber music at the Paris Conservatoire) he travelled to the United States and Africa as well as across Europe. Although we tend to remember Grovlez today for his influence primarily as a composer in the mould of Fauré or Debussy bringing a quirky quality to some of his writing more than occasionally reminiscent of Poulenc it was as a conductor that Grovlez initially made an impact. Moreover we should not overlook the fact that he gave the inaugural performances of some highly treasured works by the likes of Ravel (Ma Mère l'Oye) and Fauré (Dolly Suite) a piano duet which has earned an especially important