Désiré-Emile Inghelbrecht's six suites of piano pieces entitled La Nursery are among the most unjustly neglected masterworks of French impressionism. All but the third and fourth suites first appeared in 1905 and undoubtedly provided direct inspiration for
Claude Debussy's Children's Corner, composed in 1908 and likewise included as filler on this fine ATMA Classique disc featuring Canadian pianist
Lise Boucher. These solo versions of
Inghelbrecht's signature work have not appeared on compact disc before -- the earliest versions of these works were intended as teaching pieces and were scored out for piano four-hands. That was recorded some years ago for Etcetera by the team of
Daniel Blumenthal and
Robert Groslot, and orchestrated versions of some suites were made by
Inghelbrecht somewhat later. Although he became best known as one of the great conductors of French music and the founder of the Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion Française,
Inghelbrecht didn't go out of his way to record his own music, and only in the twenty first century is this music becoming known on recordings.
Some might call this "minor impressionism," but that's debatable; this is as good as
Debussy and
Ravel, if a bit lighter in texture.
Lise Boucher approaches all of this music with a light touch that suits it well, and if her Children's Corner lacks a consistent pulse and seems to stop and start too much, there are no complaints to be lodged against the main event here. Indeed, the
Debussy seems to be included almost as an afterthought -- it fits on the CD, but even without it this would be a well-filled program. Considering that the entire solo piano output of
Debussy and
Ravel combined wouldn't fill up half the capacity of the average iPod, then knowing that music such as
Inghelbrecht's La Nursery is out there, not to mention similar works of
Paul Paray and Déodat de Sévérac, is helpful if one loves the piano music of the French impressionists. As some only listen to the classics for works such as these, this can help expand one's horizons beyond
Debussy and
Ravel yet comfortably remain within the impressionist genre.