The Music Pages | January 2010


	Cat. No.: 480 2337 Barcode: 0028948023370 Label: Decca CD Release Date: January			Eugene Goossens; Eduard van Beinum; Benjamin Britten BRITTEN: Simple Symphony; Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra; Four Sea Interludes and Passacaglia; Sinfonia da Requiem ARTISTS New Symphony Orchestra of London / Eugene Goossens [Simple Symphony] Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam / Eduard van Beinum [Peter Grimes; The Young Person’s Guide] Danish State Radio Symphony Orchestra / Benjamin Britten [Sinfonia da Requiem] TRACK LISTING BRITTEN Simple Symphony* Four Sea Interludes, Op. 33a from Peter Grimes Passacaglia, Op. 33b from Peter Grimes* The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, Op. 34 Sinfonia da Requiem* * FIRST RELEASE ON CD All these superb Decca recordings of the music of Britten were made in 1953. All of the few Britten recordings made by Eugene Goossens have now been released on Decca Eloquence. Remodelled on themes he wrote as a boy, the Simple Symphony’s undeniable charm and charisma have ensured it a constant place in repertoire enjoyed not only by children but by adults too. Much the same goes for The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, and this Van Beinum recording, one of the work’s earliest, was something of a demonstration CD for its day. It was coupled with the Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes as well as the Passacaglia, and the latter, much requested, now receives its first issue on Decca CD. Britten recording the Sinfonia da Requiem twice, first in September 1953 with Danish forces and then more than ten years later in December 1964 with the New Philharmonia Orchestra. Andrew Porter, reviewing the earlier recording in the February 1955 issue of The Gramophone declared that it ‘could hardly be bettered’. Some 55 years on, it makes its first appearance on CD "… a really superb issue … The orchestra play the music with great virtuosity, which never becomes mere display, and with an obvious enjoyment." Gramophone (Van Beinum recordings) RETURN TO THE TOP

	Cat. No.: 480 0456 Barcode: 0028948004560 Label: Decca CD Release Date: January			Ernest Ansermet \| ALBENIZ: Iberia; Navarra ? VILLA-LOBOS: Piano Concerto No. 1 ARTISTS Ellen Ballon, piano [Villa-Lobos] L’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande Ernest Ansermet TRACK LISTING ALBENIZ: Iberia – excerpts; Navarra VILLA-LOBOS: Piano Concerto No. 1 Composing and story-telling are not unrelated, and Albéniz was as adept as any Scheherazade at both! For many, his masterpiece was Iberia, a set of piano pieces composed near the end of his life. It contains twelve ‘impressions’ (the composer’s word) of Spain, and is organized into four books of three pieces each. Although they are named after various locales, it would be facile to call these pieces a musical travelogue, because Albéniz was not interested in literal depictions of his homeland. Together with the orchestration of Navarra, Ansermet recorded five of these – Evocación, El Corpus en Sevilla, Triana, El Puerto and El Albaicín. Ansermet’s 1960 recording of these works long has been a favourite of audiophiles, and even today, it retains its potency, not just as a demonstration of recording technique, but also of the conductor’s skill. The coupling on this recording, Villa-Lobos’s First Piano Concerto, receives its CD premiere from the very pianist (Canadian Ellen Ballon) who commissioned and premiered it. This is the largest of his piano concertos, and its third movement comes to a climax with a lengthy cadenza for the soloist. (One remembers a comment made about Villa-Lobos’s Concerto No. 5 – a ‘piano tuner’s orgy’.) Ballon, who studied with Josef Hofmann and who was praised by Artur Rubinstein as the ‘greatest pianistic genius [he] had ever met’ is a powerful soloist in this recording. Her playing is muscular – the third-movement cadenza is particularly impressive – yet she is able to make the lyrical passages sing as well. The Orchestre de la Suisse Romande seems engaged and intrigued by Villa-Lobos’s bejewelled, exotic and sometimes mysterious orchestral writing, and the score as whole plays to Ansermet’s strengths as an architect and colourist. "As the performances are splendidly alive and the quality blazingly good, this is a disc for all Costa Brava enthusiasts and indeed anyone who finds red-blooded Spanish music a thrill." Gramophone (Iberia) RETURN TO THE TOP

	Cat. No.: 480 0024 Barcode: 0028948000241 Label: Decca CD Release Date: January			Ernest Ansermet \| RESPIGHI: Pines of Rome; Fountains of Rome; ROSSINI/RESPIGHI: La boutique fantasque ARTISTS L’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande London Symphony Orchestra (La boutique fantasque) Ernest Ansermet TRACK LISTING RESPIGHI: Pines of Rome RESPIGHI: Fountains of Rome ROSSINI/RESPIGHI: La boutique fantasque This release gathers together – under the perceptive and sympathetic musicianship of Ernest Ansermet – a selection of music by (and refashioned by) Ottorino Respighi with a very high quotient of colour, atmosphere, rhythmic vitality and touching lyricism. The Fountains of Rome and The Pines of Rome are two-thirds of the composer’s Roman Trilogy (the third part, composed last, being Feste Romane – Roman Festivals – which Ansermet did not record) and which celebrate in music the glories and history of the city of Rome. La Boutique Fantasque (The Fantastic Toyshop) is one of many ballet scores composed for the Russian impresario Serge Diaghilev. The release of the 1963 recording of the Respighi tone poems was widely praised for its superlative sound. And the very fine recording of La boutique fantasque was made not in Geneva, for once, but at Kingsway Hall with the London Symphony Orchestra; it is much sought-after and has become something of a collector’s item. This is its first international release on Decca. It is a performance full of musical incident, further pepped up by Ansermet’s balletic and theatrical instincts – the product of his experience of having conducted ‘for the ballet’ over many years. "…a very great quantity of splendid sound on offer…" Gramophone (Pines of Rome, Fountains of Rome) "…sets the standard for completeness, elegance of performance…a glowing account." Gramophone (La boutique fantasque) RETURN TO THE TOP

	Cat. No.: 480 0077 Barcode: 0028948000777 Label: Decca CD Release Date: January			Ernest Ansermet \| FALLA: El amor brujo; El sombrero de tres picos; Spanish Dance No.1 ARTISTS Marina de Gabarain, mezzo soprano [El amor brujo] Suzanne Danco, soprano [El sombrero de tres picos] L’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande Ernest Ansermet TRACK LISTING FALLA: El amor brujo El sombrero del tres picos Danza Espanola No. 1 To the delightfully muddled, Marriage of Figaro-like plot of El amor brujo Ansermet brings an earthy sensuality and piquant wit. Ansermet recorded El sombrero del tres picos twice, and while the later recording with Teresa Berganza has rarely been out of the catalogue, this earlier mono 1952 recording with Suzanne Danco is rare and much sought-after, not only by Ansermet fans, but by fans of this wonderful Swiss singer, whose singing Ansermet once referred to as ‘Appolonian’. The disc is completed with the Danza Espanola No. 1 from La vida breve and Ansermet gives the dance its due colours, while not neglecting its vague air of unease. The 1955 recording was made in both mono and stereo is extremely rare, and the stereo version, previously unpublished, appears here for the first time on CD. RETURN TO THE TOP

	Cat. No.: 480 0049 Barcode: 0028948000494 Label: Decca 2CD Release Date: January			Ernest Ansermet \| LALO: Symphonie espagnole; Namouna; Divertimento: Andante; Scherzo for Orchestra; Rapsodie norvegienne; Le Roi d'Ys: Overture; Espana; Suite Pastorale; Joyeuse Marche; Le Roi Malgre lui ARTISTS Ruggiero Ricci, violin [Symphonie espagnole] L’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande Ernest Ansermet TRACK LISTING LALO: Symphonie espagnole Namouna Andantino Scherzo Rapsodie norvégienne Le roi d'Ys: Overture CHABRIER Habañera España Suite Pastorale Joyeuse marche Le roi malgré lui 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 élan 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 Chabrière’. The collection also includes the rare ‘Habañera’. 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. RETURN TO THE TOP

	Cat. No.: 480 0457 Barcode: 0028948004577 Label: Decca 2CD Release Date: January			Ernest Ansermet \| BIZET: Suites; Symphony ? TURINA: Danzas fantásticas ARTISTS L’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande Ernest Ansermet TRACK LISTING BIZET Carmen: Suite L'Arlésienne: Suite Symphony in C Patrie: Overture Jeux d’enfants La jolie fille de Perth TURINA Danzas fantásticas Bizet’s Carmen was misunderstood at its premiere in 1875. The Opéra-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’Arlésienne, 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. Joaquín 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 fantásticas 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. RETURN TO THE TOP