Échecs Op. 96

With the suite Échecs, Op. 96, composed in 1957 for solo piano, Jean Absil offers a work as ingenious as it is playful, inspired by the game of chess. Structured in six movements, each named after a chess piece—Le Roi (marcia moderato), La Reine (andante), Le Fou (andante), La Tour (très lent), Les Pions (andantino), and Les Cavaliers (molto vivo)—the suite musically evokes the character or movement patterns of each figure. Conceived almost programmatically, Échecs unfolds as a succession of musical portraits or stylised dances, each piece autonomous in form (typically binary or ternary), yet united by the overarching ludic theme.

Absil’s pianistic writing is brilliant and varied, each movement presenting distinct technical challenges aligned with its subject. Le Roi is a stately, slightly ponderous march, with full chords and solemn pacing reflecting the measured advance of the king. La Reine, the most expansive and expressive piece, features sweeping arpeggios and lyrical gestures suggestive of her power and mobility. Le Fou—the bishop—receives an angular, chromatic treatment, filled with dissonances that mirror the diagonal, unpredictable nature of its movement. La Tour (the rook) is depicted through a slow and rigorous texture: massive chordal sequences and relentless descending scales convey the piece’s linear force. Les Pions offers a miniature marked by obstinate, repeated motifs and a lightly humorous tone, befitting these humble foot soldiers of the game. The suite culminates in Les Cavaliers, a vivid and mercurial piece bristling with leaps and abrupt changes of direction—directly illustrating the knight’s iconic “L-shaped” move—with a whimsical, high-spirited flair.

Stylistically, Échecs reflects Absil’s taste for witty characterisation and formal clarity. The harmonic language remains tonal or modal, spiced with fleeting moments of acidity—particularly in Le Fou and Les Cavaliers, where seconds and playful dissonances abound. The suite is immediately appealing and accessible to the listener, while maintaining cohesion through its thematic unity. Critics have likened it to a twentieth-century counterpart of Bizet’s Jeux d’enfants or Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, offering a succession of succinct, vividly drawn tableaux, infused with a distinctly modern humour. Dedicated to a chess-loving friend of the composer, Échecs was premiered in 1958 in Brussels by pianist Carlo Van Neste, receiving a warm reception for its inventive spirit. A critic noted “the delightful fancy with which Absil sketches each piece,” praising Les Cavaliers for their “mischievous stamping” and Le Fou for its “strange oscillations.” Though the suite remained little known abroad for decades, a 2011 recording by Daniel Blumenthal helped to revive interest.