Albert Roussel - A Sadly Neglected French Composer.

Started by Superhorn, September 15, 2008, 12:35:07 PM

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Scarpia

Quote from: pjme on July 22, 2010, 11:08:27 AM
Varengeville is a beautiful little village ( un peu chi chi  :-* quand-même..think of Niagara on the Lake...) in Normandy, ca 10 kms south of Dieppe.

It's Georges Braque's resting place aswell.

The little ( Romanesc) church has exquisite blue windows by Braque. The (very) nearby Parc des Moustiers a wonderful garden/parc designed by sir Edwin Lutyens ( the arts & crafts villa) and gertrude Jekyll ( parts of the garden).

http://www.normandieweb.org/76/offranville/varengevillesurmer/eglise.html

They didn't worry that Roussel would loose points with Saint Peter at the Pearly Gates for having naked people on his tomb?

karlhenning

Quote from: Brian on November 28, 2010, 03:08:11 PM
A funny thing happened to me recently. I got a CD of Roussel's Third and Fourth Symphonies, with Charles Munch and the Orchestre de Concerts Lamoureux, as a MusicWeb reviewing assignment. And lo and behold, a technical glitch had resulted in the tracks getting switched up so that the Fourth Symphony played as follows:
I. Lento - Allegro con brio
III. Allegro scherzando
IV. Allegro molto
II. Lento molto

And I think this has actually ruined the symphony for me. Now I see the symphony as just "reusing the formula of the Third": plugging different tunes into the same framework. Why? Because having the slow movement at the end sounds so much better! Try it for yourself. The sheer bouncy energy of the three consecutive allegros gets you absolutely dying for something slow, like a man in a desert looking for water, and then the gorgeous lento molto comes along and wrings out every drop of melancholy and lyrical beauty and grace and a whole host of other things lacking in the first three movements. And the way the lento ends... like Schubert's Unfinished, it seemed to be floating off into the ether, impossible to follow up.

So there it is. I like the Fourth Symphony better when it's in the wrong order. Part of me was tempted not to warn the record company (High Def Tape Transfers) about the glitch, so more customers could enjoy the surprise. (But I did warn them.) I won't be reprogramming the CD player to set things right, that's for sure.

That's all most curious, Brian!

Now I see the symphony as just "reusing the formula of the Third": plugging different tunes into the same framework.

Well, I don't know that that's fair.  Your chance rearrangement of the symphony yields the sort of sequence which (say) Shostakovich might have generated.  I find it hard on Roussel to demand that of him, though!

I tried the symphony out "your" way.  (I do find the piece, as is, simply lovely.)  I don't hear the end of the Lento molto as the end of the symphony . . . .

Mirror Image

Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on November 28, 2010, 05:17:00 PM
That's all most curious, Brian!

Now I see the symphony as just "reusing the formula of the Third": plugging different tunes into the same framework.

Well, I don't know that that's fair.  Your chance rearrangement of the symphony yields the sort of sequence which (say) Shostakovich might have generated.  I find it hard on Roussel to demand that of him, though!

I tried the symphony out "your" way.  (I do find the piece, as is, simply lovely.)  I don't hear the end of the Lento molto as the end of the symphony . . . .


I agree Karl. The symphony is fine just the way it is. I also think Brian is being a bit unfair to Roussel here. Obviously, he didn't intend for the symphony to be heard this way and God bless him for it! We're grateful to have as much music as we have of his since he was one of the rare late-bloomers in classical music.

karlhenning

OTOH, I think it's great that Brian chanced on a way to hear the work differently (and early in the history of the symphony, concert programs played fast and loose with a movement here from this, a movement there from that).

I just think it's hard cheese if Roussel suffers as a result of the exercise . . . .

Brian

Incidentally, if you're interested in ordering that CD, the label (HDTT) assures me that it was a one-off fluke, as every CD is burned individually to order.

As a(n aspiring) good critic, I'll be listening to the Fourth quite a few more times over the next week or so and giving myself a chance to correct or confirm that first impression. :)

pjme

They didn't worry that Roussel would loose points with Saint Peter at the Pearly Gates for having naked people on his tomb?

??? ??? ???

P.

Daverz

Munch's recordings with the Lamoureux are also available on the Elatus label (a Warner budget label):


snyprrr

Boy this is a sad little Roussel Thread! ::)

Just heard the String Trio Op.58 for the first time, and it is a piece I've been waiting a long time for. As it turns out, it's less than 14mins. long, but has vigorous working out quality that reminds one of the String Quartet (VoxBox only!). As a stand alone ST, I wasn't all that impressed, but I'm having trouble finding anything to compare it to (Hindemith's STs are a bit more substantial; Francaix muuuch less so).

I much prefer the Flute Trio Op.40, and the ubiquitous Serenade, for the standard French combination of flute, harp, and SQ. Roussel's Chamber Music then seems to trail off into the flute repertoire, but I would like to lift up the Violin Sonata No.2 as belonging to the same family of quality as all these previously mentioned pieces.

I find Roussel's music very manly, and not necessarily the most First Choice music, except when I want something Traditional sounding, with rigor, yet with a little spikiness. "Bluff" is a word,... just the naval image, with the salty air and the gulls,... that's Roussel, hearty.

I have the Jarvi disc with all the big pieces, which i listen to about once a year. I think my fav orchestral piece is the Piano Concerto, which has been mentioned on this Thread several times; but I don't recall Symphonies 1-2.

I mean, there's not that much to say about Roussel, is there? Is the the Premiere French Neo-Classical Composer? He certainly ends up with the most Classically rigorous style of the French Composers, no?


Scarpia

Unfortunate that Roussel's thread must have this title which labels him as the sad-sack composer.  I don't see that he is "sadly neglected."

Mirror Image

Quote from: Il Barone Scarpia on April 27, 2011, 08:59:40 PMI don't see that he is "sadly neglected."

Me either, in fact, I think his star is still rising.

springrite

I ordered the opera/ballet  Padmavati and am looking forward to it. I posted on the "recordings you are considering" thread and no one responded. I guess not many people know that work.
Do what I must do, and let what must happen happen.

The new erato

Quote from: springrite on April 28, 2011, 12:01:08 AM
I ordered the opera/ballet  Padmavati and am looking forward to it. I posted on the "recordings you are considering" thread and no one responded. I guess not many people know that work.
I have it! As for knowing it however....it's been some years since the last listen. ???

Superhorn

   Roussel may not be totally neglected, but his music has never come remotely close to being performed and recorded as often as that of his contemporaries Debussy and Ravel,and other French composers.  It certainly deserves to be heard more often.
   As far as I am concerned,Padmavati ranks with the greatest of French operas, yet since its premiere in Paris in
1923 ,it has had only a handful of performances. Even Les Troyens by Berlioz, which is so much more difficult to
mount in terms of production size etc, has had a lot more performances in recent years.
I don't believe it has ever been performed in America, even in concert form, although Christoph Eschenbach,
who has become a  committed advocate of Roussel's music recently, did excerpts from it with the Washington symphony last month at an intriguing Indian-themed concert. I wish he had done the whole opera/ballet in concert form.
   Leon Botstein has yet to do it with the American symphony, but I hope he will before long.
    The most recent performances  of it were at the Paris Chatelet theater a few years ago, and it  was from all reports a big hit with the audience.  The production moved on to the Spleto festival in Italy that Summer.
   The Paris production has unfortunately yet to show up on DVD , but you can see excerp-ts on You Tube.

karlhenning

Deserves to be heard more often? I certainly agree.

If the touchstone is that his music be recorded as often as that of Debussy or Ravel: he's sunk. Never happen.

Superhorn

   Springrite(or should it be spring roll?). I have the EMI recording of Padmavati,and it's one of my most prized CDs.
    Padmavati is like no other opera you have heard.  It takes place in medieval India during the Moghul conquest.
   The  Moghul Sultan Alauddin has approached  the Maharaja Ratan-Sen of the city of Chitoor and  claims to want to make peace with  him and the city .  But he secretly covets Ratan-Sen's dazzlingly beautiful wife Padmavati ,who is revered  by the people of Chitoor as a divine creature .
   Through a messenger , he tells  the people of the city that if Padmavati is not delivered to him immediately ,he and his troops will  destroy the entire city and kill all its inhabitants . 
   Padmavati retreats  with the Brahmin priests and her attendants to a secret Hindu temple for protection while her husband and his army valiantly fight the Moghul army .  He  comes to the temple wounded and pleads with her to  allow him to give her to the Sultan in order to save the city ,but she refuses adamantly .  She then stabs him to death, and must now  mount the ritual  funeral pyre to sacrifice herself according  to Hindu  law and tradition .  She goes through an elaborate  ritual  immolation .
   At the very end, the Sultan and his troops  penetrate the temple, but she is no more !
    Roussel's music is  fantstically colorful and dazzlingly orchestrated , sor of  like   Debussy on steroids !
   Unlike other French operas which take place in India ,such as Lakme, Bizet's Pearl Fishers and Massenet's Roi De Lahore ,  his music comes much closer to genuine Indian flavor than these entertaining but pseudo-indian operas .  Previously, Roussel had spent time visiting India , and  got to hear authentic Indian music .
    Padmavati is a remarkable and fascinating opera . 
     
   

Scarpia

Quote from: Superhorn on April 30, 2011, 06:46:50 AM
   Springrite(or should it be spring roll?). I have the EMI recording of Padmavati,and it's one of my most prized CDs.
    Padmavati is like no other opera you have heard.  It takes place in medieval India during the Moghul conquest.
   The  Moghul Sultan Alauddin has approached  the Maharaja Ratan-Sen of the city of Chitoor and  claims to want to make peace with  him and the city .  But he secretly covets Ratan-Sen's dazzlingly beautiful wife Padmavati ,who is revered  by the people of Chitoor as a divine creature .
   Through a messenger , he tells  the people of the city that if Padmavati is not delivered to him immediately ,he and his troops will  destroy the entire city and kill all its inhabitants . 
   Padmavati retreats  with the Brahmin priests and her attendants to a secret Hindu temple for protection while her husband and his army valiantly fight the Moghul army .  He  comes to the temple wounded and pleads with her to  allow him to give her to the Sultan in order to save the city ,but she refuses adamantly .  She then stabs him to death, and must now  mount the ritual  funeral pyre to sacrifice herself according  to Hindu  law and tradition .  She goes through an elaborate  ritual  immolation .
   At the very end, the Sultan and his troops  penetrate the temple, but she is no more !
    Roussel's music is  fantstically colorful and dazzlingly orchestrated , sor of  like   Debussy on steroids !
   Unlike other French operas which take place in India ,such as Lakme, Bizet's Pearl Fishers and Massenet's Roi De Lahore ,  his music comes much closer to genuine Indian flavor than these entertaining but pseudo-indian operas .  Previously, Roussel had spent time visiting India , and  got to hear authentic Indian music .
    Padmavati is a remarkable and fascinating opera . 

You had me until the end.  The last thing I want to hear is a French composer generating "Indian flavour."

DavidW

Does anyone have the brilliant set of his chamber works?  It looks tempting. :)

Scarpia

Quote from: haydnfan on April 30, 2011, 07:17:29 AM
Does anyone have the brilliant set of his chamber works?  It looks tempting. :)

Have it but haven't heard it yet. 

DavidW

Well give a shout out whenever you give it a listen.  No hurry on my part I'm absolutely buried with cool, new music to listen to.  For sure I'm going to get the rest of the orchestral works of Roussel anyway.

Mirror Image

Quote from: haydnfan on April 30, 2011, 07:22:27 AM
Well give a shout out whenever you give it a listen.  No hurry on my part I'm absolutely buried with cool, new music to listen to.  For sure I'm going to get the rest of the orchestral works of Roussel anyway.

I need to have a bit of a Roussel reunion as I recall almost all of the orchestral works I've heard (including the ballets and symphonies) have been top-notch. I think he too often gets overlooked by listeners who are into Debussy and Ravel.