Charpentier, G: Impressions d'Italie

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.

This third release in the Prix de Rome series by Glossa is set to demonstrate a composer whose range of talents far extends beyond his famous opera 'Louise'.

After Debussy and Saint-Saëns, Hervé Niquet now turns to the dramatic realism of the late 19th century. The Italian period in Charpentier’s life (1888-1890) was actually his most fruitful creative. It was there, in Rome, that he worked on two masterly symphonic works: the one elaborating his 'Impressions d’Italie' which was to enjoy significant success right up until the Second World War; whilst the other, 'La Vie du poète', more experimental, called for three soloists, a chorus and a large symphonic orchestra. Thanks to the quality of his chorus 'La Fête des myrtes' and the magnificent Wagnerian cantata 'Didon', the composer won, in 1887, the famous Prix de Rome, opening the way for him to have a Bohemian séjour in the Villa Medici.