There must be something about post-Romantic French piano music that makes it especially conducive to arrangements for chamber ensembles or orchestra.
Ravel himself arranged four of the movements of Le tombeau de Couperin for orchestra, and there have been numerous versions for assorted configurations of chamber ensembles.
Debussy's Petite suite for piano four hands and Six épigraphes antiques have similarly been orchestrated for ensembles large and small.
Ensemble Pyramide, which is made up of flute, oboe, violin, viola, cello, and harp, includes arrangements of those three works plus Pierné's Album pour mes petits amis on their album,
Suites Françaises. The pieces are completely persuasive as chamber music in the graceful, idiomatic versions flutist
Markus Brönnimann made for this unusually constituted group. It's an eccentric but highly congenial combination of instruments, and
Brönnimann's skilled deployment is well-balanced and avoids the temptation to rely too heavily on the harp as a substitute for the piano. The ensemble's members play with finesse and acute sensitivity to each other, so the performances have an appealing suppleness and flexibility. The
Ravel is a virtuosic tour de force, and the group handles it with panache, even taking some of the movements faster than is traditional in the piano original. Petite suite is a real charmer, generously melodic and sunny in tone. Six épigraphes antiques, written late in
Debussy's career, is a more austere, abstract work that frequently relies on spare, mysterious atmospherics. Pierné's Album pour mes petits amis is a simple piece both in its technical demands and musical material, which is light, sweet, and has an unadorned gracefulness that frequently echoes the elegance of the Classical era. It would stand up nicely on its own but it is not at the same level of inspiration as the preceding pieces, so it comes as something of a letdown as the last work on the album. Still, this is an attractive, beautifully executed recording that should be of interest to chamber music fans.