Sunday 6 September 2009

Guillaume Lekeu

Guillaume Lekeu died at the age of only 24. The few works he left behind, however, contain some remarkable music. This evening I was listening to his piano quintet; Lekeu died before he could complete the work with a third movement but, like Schubert's Unfinished, or Bruckner's ninth symphony, it does not seem to matter; the first movement and the lent et passioné slow movement are feast enough. The recording I have by the Eugène Ysaÿe Ensemble (Brilliant Classics) seems good.

2 comments:

oisfetz said...

Lekeu's quintet?. I'm afraid not. It's the unfinished piano quartet.
I've that piece, a huge son.for cello and piano, the superb string quartet, plus a "meditation" and a "molto adagio sempre cantante e doloroso" for string quartet. All those works are absolutely beautiful IMO.

Harry Collier said...

Yes, my mistake: it is indeed a piano quartet. I also have a copy you sent me some years ago. If only Lekeu had lived another 30 years ...