Jean-Louis Florentz: L’Enfant des îles (poème symphonique pour grand orchestre op. 16, 2002), L’Anneau de Salomon (Danse symphonique pour grand orchestre op. 14, 1999). Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire, Hubert Soudant. Forlane 16832 (2003) barcode 3399240168326
Recorded March & October 2002, Cité des Congrès de Nantes
Can’t anything be added to what Bax, Ravel, Ibert and Villa Lobos already said before 1950? Florentz’ answer seems to be: “no”
Originally posted on Amazon.com, 1 February 2011
Jean-Louis Florentz is one of those obscure French composers who have hardly made it on the map outside of their local country – and even there. He appeared on my radar in the early 1980s, with two superb works: a truly magnificient, 23-minute Magnificat (1979) inspired by an Ethopian Christian liturgy in honor of the Virgin Mary, and a symphonic poem, Les Marches du Soleil (1983). I first heard them on and taped them from the French radio, but Magnificat was later published on CD by Erato (2292-45432-2, barcode 022924543227). It is the first pendant of a triptych dedicated to the Virgin Mary (from that you can infer that Florentz was, like Messiaen, a deeply religious composer), the other two being the organ work Laudes, also on the Erato CD, and another choral work, Le Requiem de la Vierge (apparently later re-christened Asun).
I bought the present CD used a while ago and I realise only now that the booklet is absent (it is an opening book-like cardboard holder, so you can see that only when you open the CD). So my listening will not be influenced by what I read. [Note 2026: 15 years after this review I found the booklet, stashed between two other CDs of Florentz awaiting listening time].
Apparently, Florentz has gone through the same kind of evolution as his contemporary Philippe Hersant, with whom he has much in common. Both, in the 1980s, rejected the strictures and dictates of the overbearing serialism, placed themselves in the wake of the lush orchestral palette of Dutilleux and reverted to tonally-anchored music, but did not relinquish all compositional exigencies. Florentz, a pupil of Messiaen and Pierre Schaeffer, was also an ethno-musicologist, a specialist of animal acoustics, and using Ethopian liturgies was, so to speak, his underpinning or crutch for wringing out his compositional freedom. They both produced music of fine dramatic power and even greater atmospheric evocativeness (Hersant’s first Violin Concerto, “Méandres”, is a good illustration for that composer; it’s never been recorded, I have from an air-check) [Note: which I haven’t been able to retrieve in these last 15 years…].
But apparently, in the course of time they’ve both done away with much of the “compositional exigency” side of it. I witnessed the premiere performance of Hersant’s 2nd Violin Concerto, a few years back, and it sounded to me like Prokofiev’s 3rd. Florentz’ symphonic poem “L’Enfant des Îles” (Child of the Islands) starts, with its tapestry of shimmering strings and deep-growling basses, like the Trumpet Concerto Sibelius never wrote, lets you hear whiffs of Debussy or Ravel’s Daphnis & Chloé, a wistful, concertante violin in its second part, and, for all its lush, sensuous and atmospheric orchestration, it is hardly more advanced than Villa Lobos’ “Amazonian” compositions (see for instance my review on Amazon.com pending repost here of Genesis / Erosao / Amazonas / Dawn in a Tropical Forest on Marco Polo 8.223357 barcode 4891030233577 or 730099335720). It consists of two movements, “Sea Breezes” and “Island Woods” (with a recherché French word for woods, “Sylves”): it tells you all. Same with “L’Anneau de Salomon” (Solomon’s Ring), subtitled “Symphonic Dance for Large Orchestra”: Ravel’s Daphnis often came to mind again , alongside Villa Lobos’ Amazonian compositions and various compositions from the early XXth century “primitivists” (see, on Amazonn.com again, my reviews of John Antill’s Corroboree on Everest EVC 9007 barcode 723918900728 with works of Villa-Lobos and Ginastera, or Werner Josten’s Jungle conducted by Stokowski on CRI CD 597).
Don’t get me wrong, these two compositions are highly atmospheric and quite enjoyable [and I’ve enjoyed listening to them again 15 years later], but they aren’t very revelatory and break no new grounds, generating instead an impression of “déjà entendu”. In terms of atmosphere and lush orchestral colors, can’t anything be added to what Bax, Ravel, Ibert and Villa Lobos already said before 1950? Florentz’ answer seems to be: “no”, and it is ultimately a disappointing one, especially since, in the late 1970s/early 1980s, he had proved otherwise. But those who can’t have enough of Ravel, Ibert, Bax and Villa-Lobos’ Amazonian compositions will enjoy this.
Each composition is around the 30-minute mark, TT 62 minutes. [Fifteen years later I can vouch that the liner notes are informative]. But the Erato CD with Magnificat offers a better documentation of Florentz’ talent.
Florentz was born in 1947 and died of cancer in 2004.