Francis Kleynjans
Les Productions D’Oz; 26 pages (score only)
Francis Kleynjans was a lifelong friend of the late Roland Dyens, who passed over 6 years ago now, and here he has written 7 solos and 3 duos in his memory with the hope of prolonging his memory by evoking musically the friendship that united them.
With a collection such as this , you will not be surprised to find that nearly all of the pieces are sad, and emotionally driven, with the sole exception of one of the three duets , which is the only piece marked to be played ‘Joyeusement , avec insouciance’. The rest of the pieces are short in stature, and marked Lent, Grave et Profond, or words of similar nature.
Now if you are a follower of Kleynjans’ music and his style of writing you will know that everything is tonal, but still interesting, and not at all boring or predictable. However a book of 10 pieces with nine of them slow, or mournful, or emotional, is a little bit too much to play in one go but certainly if you want to pop in and out of this book then the pieces are all lovely and not too difficult, with just a touch of Kleynjans’ slightly unusual way of voicing certain melodies that keeps the interest factor alive.
The book begins with a Marche Funebre , as one might expect, marked D’Un Pas Lent et Regulier and set in F Major as a 2/4 piece of writing with slow quavers as its basis, but with a dotted melody above and plenty of harmonic movement to keep you interested. After that there is a Petite Chanson Triste, set in D Minor, in 3 / 4 with a melody that begins in the lower strings and then progresses to the treble before returning to the bass end, for a varied return of the opening melody.
Minor keys are the basis of much of the music here, with the exception of sans Toi, set in C Major in 3/8 as a gentle waltz, and the aforementioned duo, Moliets- Page which is a Joyeusement, 6/8 in D Major.
This is a nice book, a fitting memory to a great musician and everything is a worthwhile piece of music, but you may not want to play them all in one batch, as they are very sad, for the most part.
Chris Dumigan
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