Saint-Saëns: Samson et Dalila

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This is the most subtly and expertly conducted performance of this work to appear on CD, excellent as others have been in this respect, and also the best played and sung. Chung's achievement... — Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 More…

Catalogue No: 7544702
Label: Warner Classics
Length: 2 hours 3 minutes

Saint-Saëns: Samson et Dalila

Work length2:07:14

Album only

François Harismendy (tenor), Daniel Galvez-Vallejo (tenor), Christian Papis (tenor), Plácido Domingo (tenor), Myung-Whun Chung (director), Waltraud Meier (mezzo-soprano), Jean-Philippe Courtis (bass), Alain Fondary (bass-baritone), Samuel Ramey (bass)
Orchestre de l'Opéra national de Paris, Choeur de l'Opéra Bastille, Orchestre De L'Opera Bastille
Myung-Whun Chung
Recorded: 1992-01-01

Samson et Dalila - Acte I - Choeur des hébreux : Dieu d'Israël ! Ecoute la prière

Track length5:39

$1.30

$1.70

Un jour, de nous tu détournas ta face (Choeur)

Track length3:45

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Arrêtez, ô mes frères ! (Samson, Choeur)

Track length6:21

$1.00

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L'as-tu donc oublié (Samson, Choeur)

Track length3:42

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Qui donc élève ici la voix ? (Abimélech)

Track length2:39

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C'est toi que sa bouche invective (Samson, Choeur, Abimélech)

Track length3:16

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Que vois-je ! (Le Grand-Prêtre, 1er Philistin, 2ème Philistin)

Track length1:05

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Seigneur ! la troupe furieuse (Un messager Philistin, 1er et 2ème Philistins, Le Grand Prêtre)

Track length2:48

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Hymne de joie (Choeur, Un Vieillard Hébreu)

Track length6:51

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Voici le printemps nous portant des fleurs (Les Philistines)

Track length2:26

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Je viens célébrer la victoire (Dalila, Samson, Le Vieillard Hébreu)

Track length3:22

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Danse des prêtresses

Track length1:59

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Printemps qui commence (Dalila, Le Vieillard Hébreu)

Track length6:08

$1.00

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Prélude

Track length1:49

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Samson, recherchant ma présence (Dalila)

Track length4:01

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J'ai gravi la montagne (Le Grand-Prêtre, Dalila)

Track length4:36

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Qu'importe à Dalila ton or ? (Dalila, Le Grand-Prêtre)

Track length3:52

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Il faut, pour assouvir ma haine (Dalila, Le Grand-Prêtre)

Track length1:49

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Samson, me disais-tu, dans ces lieux (Le Grand-Prêtre, Dalila)

Track length2:49

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En ces lieux, malgré moi, m'ont ramené mes pas... (Samson, Dalila)

Track length4:54

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Qu'importe à mon coeur désolé (Dalila, Samson)

Track length5:22

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Mon coeur s'ouvre à ta voix comme s'ouvrent les fleurs (Dalila)

Track length6:03

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Mais ! non ! que dis-je ? hélas, la triste Dalila (Dalila, Samson)

Track length6:09

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Vois ma misère, hélas ! vois ma détresse ! (Samson, Les Hébreux)

Track length10:52

Album only

L'aube qui blanchit déjà les coteaux (Les Philistins)

Track length2:53

$1.30

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Bacchanale

Track length7:00

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$1.70

Salut ! Salut au juge d'Israël (Le Grand-Prêtre, Les Philistins, Samson)

Track length1:54

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Laisse-moi prendre ta main (Dalila, Les Philistins, Samson)

Track length2:51

$1.30

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Allons, Samson, divertis-nous (Le Grand-Prêtre, Samson, Les Philistins)

Track length2:06

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Viens, Dalila, rendre grâce à nos dieux (Le Grand-Prêtre, Dalila, Les Philistins)

Track length3:51

$1.30

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Guidez ses pas vers le milieu du temple (Le Grand-Prêtre, Samson, Les Philistins, Dalila)

Track length4:22

$1.30

$1.70

Reviews
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Reviews

2010

This is the most subtly and expertly conducted performance of this work to appear on CD, excellent as others have been in this respect, and also the best played and sung. Chung's achievement is to have welded the elements of pagan ruthlessness, erotic stimulation and Wagnerian harmony that comprise Saint- Saëns's masterpiece into a convincing whole.
His success is based on the essentials of a firm sense of rhythm and timing allied to a realisation of the sensuousness and delicacy of the scoring. Whether in the lamenting of the Hebrews, the forceful music written for the High Priest, the heroics of Samson, the sensual outpourings of Dalila, or the empty rejoicing of the Bacchanale, he and his orchestra strike to the heart of the matter – and that orchestra plays with Gallic finesse, augmented by a dedicated discipline.
The choral singing, though too distantly recorded, is no less alert and refined, with a full range of dynamic contrast. Meier's Dalila is a fascinating portrayal of this equivocal anti-heroine, seductive, wheedling, exerting her female wiles with the twin objects of sexual dominance and political command. All her sense of purpose comes out in her early greeting to the High Priest, 'Salut à mon père'; then she's meditative and expectant as Dalila ponders on her power at 'Se pourrait-il'. The set numbers are all sung with the vocal ease and long phrase of a singer at the zenith of her powers. She makes more of the text than Domingo who sings in his familiar, allpurpose style, admirable in itself, somewhat missing the particular accents brought to this music by the great French tenors of the past.
They exist no more and one must salute the sterling and often eloquent tones of Domingo.
Alain Fondary is superb as the High Priest, firm and rich in tone, commanding and vengeful in delivery: the most compelling interpreter of the part on disc, tout court. Ramey is luxury casting as the Old Hebrew, but as this is a part once sung by Pinza, Ramey probably felt he wasn't slumming it. After an unsteady start, he sings the small but important role with breadth and dignity. As Abimelech, Jean-Philippe Courtis makes much of little. Apart from the two reservations already made, the recording is admirable, with a wide and spacious sound, and the soloists forward, but well integrated. This must now be the outright recommendation for this work.

Saint-Saëns: Samson et Dalila

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