D’un vieux jardin

This short piece is a moving landscape of the soul. From the opening statement, minor and major harmonies follow one another, playing on shadow and light and juxtaposing vivid, contrasting colors, like the luminous vibrations that radiate from the Fauvist canvases of Maurice de Vlaminck. The melodic line unfolds freely from a motif tracing a descending curve, to which a chromatic inflection lends a touch of melancholy. This expressive voice constantly renews itself. At times it rises toward the high register, carried by a feeling of exaltation, but its natural pull is toward sadness and desolation. This quality takes on unexpected breadth when the main idea returns, enriched by a new countermelody. At that point the piano writing broadens to suggest an orchestral climax of great intensity. To close, the piece moves down into the low register, still in search of rare harmonies, up to the final chord with its modal major-minor ambivalence. There, an arpeggiated figure briefly climbs toward the light before giving way to two low notes, very soft, like a tolling bell.

© Ricordi 1918
© Schirmer 1979

D’un vieux jardin is the first of three pieces published under the title Trois morceaux pour piano. There is an unpublished transcription for string quartet by Nadia Boulanger, as well as several orchestrations, including one by Anthony Girard.

© Anthony Girard