Fauré: Pelléas et Mélisande, Op. 80 (suite)

Contrary to the imaginative view offered by many commentators, Fauré’s Requiem had nothing to do with the death of Fauré’s parents. ‘My Requiem was written for nothing,’ the composer confided to Maurice Emmanuel, ‘it was written, if I may say so, for fun.’ Ernest Ansermet recorded the piece with two stellar artists – Suzanne Danco and Gérard Souzay – whose stylistic solos are completely in keeping with the music’s sentiments. Ansermet also recorded three of Fauré’s orchestral works for Decca in 1961, originally coupled with Debussy’s Petite Suite. They are included on this anthology, thereby presenting the sum of Ansermet’s Fauré recordings for Decca. Previously issued on Decca’s ‘Classic Sound’ series, the CD will be welcomed back into circulation by many collectors and the cover reproduces the original illustration used on the Decca LP of the orchestral works.

Jean Fournet and the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra of the Netherlands give idiomatic performances of two cornerstones of the French orchestral repertoire. They are coupled with three works by Arthur Honegger. Critically acclaimed performances.

Saint-Saens and Faure, two leading representatives of Late Romanticism, teacher and pupil linked by the same musical ideal. Both of them, with the fire of youth or in their full maturity, produced tender, luminous works. Confronted with Wagnerian mists, they brightened the French musical landscape. At her desk as leader of the Orchestre de chambre de Paris or as soloist, the violinist Deborah Nemtanu presents her vision of the last French Romantics.

This CD features the first recordings of the Dresden Philharmonic with their new Principal Conductor, Michael Sanderling. This is a live recording of the opening concert of their 2011/12 season.

By having an Italian father, a French mother and by being born in Victorian Bloomsbury, it seems that John Barbirolli set himself up for a life with a natural affinity for Italian, French and English music. It was an ideal pedigree for a poetic and sensitive musician.

The performances of French music on this disc were made during the 1950s – a vintage period with the Hallé Orchestra. His supreme conducting of Debussy can be heard in the Prélude – rich with poetic detail and a strong surge of sensuality floods the string tone, with red-blooded brass playing. There are plenty of musical jokes in Ibert’s Divertissement – Barbirolli extracts the fun but leaves the music with its own dignity.

The waltz-skit on The Blue Danube is an example of Ibert’s wit and who can resist the final chase with police whistles being blow amid the chaos? The Carnival of the Animals – a ‘grand zoological fantasy’ – was a popular item in the repertory of the famous piano duo Rawicz and Landauer. They are heard here in the 1954 HMV recording. Unusually, the famous Swan – a dignified and beautiful melody – is scored here for the whole cello section.

When Anna Pavlova danced the famous ‘Dying Swan’ at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in 1920, the solo cellist was none other than John Barbirolli. She was so pleased with his playing that she asked to meet him. When recounted the incident in later years he said: ‘She had a grip of iron – nearly broke all my fingers!’.