Lalo: Overture to 'Le Roi d'Ys'

The recorded legacy of Albert Wolff is one of the most sought-after by collectors. Of Dutch parentage, but born in Paris, Wolff was something of a polymath: pianist, organist, conductor, composer, and had a long career in recording studios beginning in 1920. His first recordings for Decca, starting in the summer of 1951, were a complete Carmen (with Suzanne Juyol), a Manon (with Janine Micheau) as well as several French orchestral suites and individual pieces. This collection includes Wolff’s much-praised versions of the Charpentier and Massenet picture-postcard suites as well as the thrilling music of Lalo’s Rédemption and the searing (and very rare) recordings of instrumental music from Massenet’s Werther. The mono versions of the Franck and Lalo pieces were never published, so those 1956 recordings had to wait nearly twenty years for their eventual (stereo) publication on the Decca ‘Eclipse’ imprint in August 1975.

All three works in this collection were either composed or premiered during 1876, a momentous year that saw the inauguration of the Bayreuth Festival, the premiere of Ibsen’s Peer Gynt, the publication of Mark Twain’s Adventures of Tom Sawyer, the USA centenary celebrations and Alexander Graham Bell’s transmission of music by telephone.

Among many works premiered in 1876 were Delibes’ ballet Sylvia and Lalo’s overture to Le Roi d’Ys. Tchaikovsky spent much of 1876 composing Swan Lake, which thanks to Natalie Portman et al is more in the public eye than ever before.

These pieces are conducted by acclaimed masters of their craft: Jean Morel (Tchaikovsky), Pierre Dervaux (Delibes) and Jean Fournet (Lalo).

The world famous Russian conductor and musician Rozhdestvensky conducts famous Overtures including Lalo’s The King of Ys, Massenet’s Phèdre, Hérold’s Zampa and Suppé’s Poet and Peasant and Light Cavalry.

It used to be fashionable to include the music of Lalo in concert in the mid-20th century. At the start of the 21st century, however, his works has fallen completely into neglect, in France as much as elsewhere. This is a cruel injustice for music full of sensuality and very highly inspired, quality orchestration. This unique 2CD collection brings together all of Ansermet's Lalo recordings for Decca, including a fiery account of the Symphonie espagnole with Ruggiero Ricci, as well as the much-praised stereo Chabrier recordings which first appeared on a delightful Decca CD in its 'Classic Sound' series. The Lalo recordings were made at various times during the composer's long tenure with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, starting in March 1959 with the Symphonie espagnole and ending with the little Scherzo in September 1968, during his last Decca session with his Swiss orchestra.

And 'classic sound' is as much an epithet for the Chabrier recordings as they are for the Lalo. While so many current Chabrier recordings are notable for their elan and elegance, Ansermet emphasises the works' earthy, comic side with a just a hint of oafishness - all reflecting the conductor's brotherly affection for his dear Chabrier, after whom he named his country house 'Le Chabriere'. The collection also includes the rare 'Habanera'. Ansermet's 1955 recording of this piece was made in both mono and stereo, and the stereo version is published for the very first time as part of this anthology.

Impassionated chamber musician, a rather secret man, Edouard Lalo must have crossed the second half of the 19th Cy without being sure to be born at the right time. A few works composed for the virtuosi among his friends (think about the Symphonie espagnole, dedicated to Sarasate) protected him against the complete oblivion, but his catalog is still under-estimated if we see which various qualities it shows. Together with Franck and Saint-Saëns, he is one of the major French symphonic composers of his time, and his best works are present on this new cd: his Symphony in G, full of temperament, and romantic as no other ; an ultra-lyrical cello concerto, which can be considered as a model for several subsequent works for the same forces; and the celebrated overture for Lalo’s best known opera, Le Roi d’Ys, opening the doors of the mythic city of Ys, to be swallowed by the ocean. The Liege Philharmonic Orchestra, under the acute baton of Jean-Pierre Haeck, promotes the virtues of these three works with a contagious enthusiasm ; young David Cohen, London Philharmonia’s first soloist, confirms that he is one of the European cellists with whom one has can rely for the future.

Sparkling accounts of famous French overtures, rare and familiar, all recorded in 1960, and part of Eloquence's magnum opus, the Decca Ansermet Legacy.