Bizet: Patrie Overture, Op. 19

Bizet's Carmen was misunderstood at its premiere in 1875. The Opera-Comique was a place where respectable families could be entertained, and where virginal daughters could be introduced to blameless sons with marriage in mind. No one expected to see uncouth gypsies, dirty smugglers and vulgar cigarette girls on its stage, let alone unvarnished human passions and murder, as Bizet so vividly portrayed them in Carmen!

This 2CD set brings together Ansermet's complete Bizet stereo recordings for Decca, are good-natured and piquant without being showy for showiness's sake. The 'rural' element of so much of the music in the Bizet suites is emphasised and in L'Arlesienne, Ansermet ensures that the Provence sun and starlight shine clearly through the music's textures. Likewise, his approached to the early Symphony is summery and there is an unpressured willingness to give the symphony space in which to breathe. Nothing is forced, and melodies are allowed to come into happy bloom.

Joaquin Turina was born in Seville, the city in which most of Carmen is set, so he could hardly avoid composing 'Spanish music'. Turina's Danzas fantasticas are more abstract and less stereotypical than some of the other Spanish repertory Ansermet recorded, but they require no less of a visceral response. Ansermet's languid, sensual, intoxicating, and sometimes even sinister reading of this score, brilliantly captured by Decca's engineering team, remains a standard by which other recordings should be judged.

recorded Geneva, 1954

Although many listeners will have been introduced to Georges Bizet (1838–1875) through his wellloved operas – notably The Pearl Fishers and Carmen – this fantastic volume celebrates his orchestral music, sometimes overlooked but entirely worthy of attention. The collection surveys his complete body of orchestral works, taking in symphonies, suites, preludes and overtures. Fans of the dramatic compositions will not be disappointed: a large portion of the three-disc set is devoted to music inspired by or written for the stage.

Two suites from Carmen are a highlight, with movements that bring to life the opera’s most magical moments, from Spanish dances to the famous Toréador song and Habañera. An orchestral suite based on the mature opera La Jolie Fille de Perth is also included, as are the two L’Arlésienne Suites of evocative, colourful incidental music to a play by Alphonse Daudet.

Bizet’s two main contributions to large-scale symphonic music are also featured: although the composer was never entirely satisfied with Roma symphony, the early Symphony in C is undoubtedly one of his masterpieces, charming and ebullient in style. Some less well-known but equally impressive works round off this collection, which is rich in opportunities for listeners to discover the different sides of Bizet’s colourful music. Enrique Bátiz, leading two internationally renowned orchestras, delivers thrilling performances, making this an indispensable and comprehensive volume.

There can be few, if any, musicians who have singlehandedly done so much in the establishment of resources for musical performance than Sir Thomas Beecham.

During WWI he conducted and supported financially both the Hallé and London Symphony Orchestras and the Royal Philharmonic Society. In 1915 he formed the Beecham Opera Company which trained many young British singers in this field. Eight years later this became the British National Opera Company and was absorbed into Covent Garden in 1932 when Beecham returned to be its Musical Director.

To quote David Cairns “We are nationally and individually a more musically aware people because of him and what he gave us”. A forceful statement, true, but whose life could ever challenge it?

Dissatisfied by conditions and practices, notably the supply of deputies for rehearsals, prevalent in British orchestras, he formed the London Philharmonic Orchestra that same year. Beecham was now able to be at the fulcrum of all developments in music in Britain. WWII put an end to this halcyon period. With Covent Garden shut he travelled, primarily in America, and did not return to Britain until 1944. The London Philharmonic had now become a self-governing body so Beecham, then aged 67, launched the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. This was the orchestra with which he committed to disc so many classic recordings with which EMI Classics marks the 50th anniversary of his passing.

It is true that Beecham had particular favourites in composers – Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, Berlioz, Bizet and Puccini spring immediately to mind; also his love for Handel – even though his performances were always BIG-scale! He was an early champion of Richard Strauss and became a most effective exponent of Sibelius. His name will always be inextricably linked with that of Delius whose music Beecham seemed to know better even than the composer and it is appropriate that they are buried not far apart in the graveyard at St. Peter’s Parish Church, Limpsfield, Surrey.

He was knighted in 1916, the year he succeeded to his father’s baronetcy, and made a Companion of Honour in 1957.This affable, brilliant, usually charming, ever-communicative, quick-witted – even, at times, to the point of cruelty, dedicated conductor was also the most gifted executive musician England has ever produced.

He was fortunate that his grandfather, a chemist, had created the highly successful pharmaceutical manufacturing business which bore his name. His father, who had started in the company whilst still a teenager, was also fond of music so he was prepared to fund his son’s enthusiastic appetite to attend operas and concerts both here and abroad.

Born on 29th April 1879 in St. Helens, he attended public school at Rossall where his talent at the piano became a legend (the only boy ever to have been allowed a grand piano in his study!). From there he briefly attended Oxford (Wadham) but the composition classes, with Charles Wood in London and Moszkowski in Paris, were funded privately. As a conductor he was purely self-taught.

He formed an orchestra in his home town and deputised for Richter at a Hallé concert when his father was mayor. His career path was clear: he would use his financial resources to support the art which he enjoyed with the aim of bringing it to as many as possible.

At the age of 30 he launched the Beecham Symphony Orchestra, all young and carefully chosen. They would tour, play for opera and ballet and give concerts of adventurous music. London duly welcomed him for a season of intensive opera performances and over the next three years introduced many new ones to British audiences, including by Strauss, Delius and the Russians. He also brought Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes starring Nijinsky and Karsavina to the British stage.

This set presents a great opportunity to become more familiar with the charismatic Russian conductor, Alexander Gauk. He was also a composer but is probably better known for his orchestral arrangements, notably of Tchaikovsky’s ‘The Seasons’, included in this set.

Gauk also reconstructed the score of Rachmaninoff’s first piano concerto from the parts in 1945, thus enabling further performances after its disastrous première in 1897. He had a preference for Russian music which is shown here, eight out of the ten CDs being devoted exclusively to Russian composers.

Many of the most prominent Russian conductors of the twentieth century were once pupils of Alexander Gauk, for example, Evgeny Mravinsky and Evgeny Sveltanov. Gauk, who died in 1963, was one of those talented Russian musicians who rarely had the opportunity to experience the western lifestyle yet his fame did reach beyond his mother country.

Apart from featuring some of today’s better known symphonies by Shostakovich (Nos. 5 and 11) and the aforementioned ‘The Seasons’, the Gauk Edition comprises seldom performed works by Arensky, Balakirev (Islamey), Myaskovsky (Symphony No. 17) and Glinka and Rimsky-Korsakov.