What joy this disc brings! We previously met Neeme Järvi and his Estonian orchestra here; when it comes to Lalo, they are on top form, and supported by one of Chandos’ best recordings.
I vaguely remember Lalo’s Le roi d’Ys from playing in the local youth chamber orchestra. It is a beautiful, brilliantly dramatic piece. This new Chandos recording offers a great performance, solo instruments beautifully expressive (there is a marvellous solo cello), and Järvi clearly understands the piece totally. His Estonian orchestra is superb The performance is a joy:
Chandos has released an alternative performance to this overture in the past, the BBC Philharmonic and Jan Pascal Tortelier, lusher in recording and a rather nice complement to Järvi. Unfortunately the Manchester (BBC Philharmonic) paper strings don’t match the Estonians for body::
If you want to try the whole opera, go for André Cluytens on Erato with a wonderful cast including Rita Gorr and Janine Micheau. Here’s the Overture from him, so intense and glowering at its opening. If you click on this link it should take you to a YouTube playlist fo the entire opera:
The “Cigarette Waltz” from Namouma here precedes the two Suites from the ballet. The Waltz is a piece of great character:
The story of Namouna is taken from Casanova’s memoirs (see the précis at Wikipedia), and Lalo’s music contains some glorious moments. A real stand out is the “Thème varié” from the first suite: Namouna and Ottavio dance around four groups of women, each group carrying flowers (hence Lalo’s four variations). This is masterly writing, and from the Estonians, performing. Järvi works to a real sense of grandeur:
Järvi is brilliant at untangling complex orchestral texture, which comes in useful for the inhale of Suite No. 1 (“Fête foraine”) and in this, the bright-light Mazurka from Suite No. 2:
French music wouldn’t be French music without some harp: and here it is, in the lovely “Dolce far niente (La Sieste),” accurately described in Chandos’ notes as a “voluptuous oriental scene” which begins the second act. Here, Ali, a rich slave merchant, is surrounded by many beautiful slave-girls:
I think we can all guess what happens in the “Pas des cymbales” … Lalo’s music is always inventive and beautiful in his music for the ballet Naouma. But on to one of Lalo’s most famous works:
The Symphony in G-Minor of 1886.Some of the material coms from his opera Fiesque (1872). While Lalo’s Symphony has perhaps been overshadowed by Saint-Saëns’ Organ Symphony of 1886 and (in its cyclical demeanour, perhaps more relevant) César Franck’s Symphony in D-Minor of 1888, it remains an ambitious work. The free-flow of ballet cedes to structural rigour, something one can clearly hear in the serious yet exquisitely-crafted first movement (the harmonic workings are sophisticated yet eminently lucid). Järvi brings a real sense of grandeur to the latter stages of the first movement:
The Scherzo was originally an uplifting choral dance; here it sparkles, sometimes with what seem to be evening shadows: crepuscular frolickery, perhaps. The Estonians are light and humble on their musical feet:
The slow movement begins with a melody that unfurls like a flower at dawn, slowly, inevitably, beautifully. Glowingly, in fact. And let’s not forget Lalo’s melodic fecundity. Ideas seem inspired, natural, and Lalo seems endlessly inventive. And anyone who ever claims Lalo lacks depth needs to hear this. Chandos’ superlative recording, incidentally, allows the glory of Lalo’s orchestration to truly shine:
The finale blazes with energy. Järci performs this with a beautifully calibrated sense of rhythm, so that wen the music does bend in contras, it does not upset the rhythmic flow. What a joy this performance is, and to hear the Estonian brass so powerful, the upper strings so silken, is a joy in and of itself:
I mentioned the opera Fiesque above. As another bonus, here’s a ballet divertissement (four movements) from that piece, performed by the Basel Symphony Orchestra under Gianandrea Andretta:
This excellent disc is available at Amazon here. Streaming links below. It would also go well with Chandos’ disc of French Opera Overtures, also with Neeme Järvi and the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, which we considered here.
