WALTON
Symphony No 1 & 2 Orchestre National de Lille / Owain Arwel Hughes [ BIS / Hybrid SACD - released 1/Jun/2010 ] Rarely appearing together on disc, William Walton's two symphonies are separated by some 25 years. |
MESSIAEN
Et Expecto Resurrectionem Mortuorum / etc Orchestre National de Lyon, Jun Märkl [ Naxos / CD - released 10/Aug/2012 ] "It would be hard to sanitise this music completely, however, and the compelling way in which the rhythmic buoyancy of oriental dance comes into conjunction with Roman Catholic piety in the fourth movement is vividly conveyed." (Gramophone) |
CLAUDE DEBUSSY
Debussy: Orchestral Works Volume 5 - La Boite a Joujoux etc. Orchestre National de Lyon / Jun Märkl [ Naxos / CD - released 14/Apr/2011 ] "The Lyon players create the strange impression of floating on air as points of sound emerge from the near-distance with ear-tweaking lucidity...The engineering balances detail and atmosphere to glowing perfection...Märkl's revelatory Debussy series... |
DEBUSSY
Orchestral Works Volume 6 - Suite Bergamasque / Petite Suite / Printemps / En blanc et noir / Symphonie in B minor Orchestre National de Lyon, Jun Märkl [ Naxos / CD - released 29/Jul/2011 ] "Robin Holloway's 2002 version of En blanc et noir breathes Debussian air, as does Tony Finno's realisation of the early Symphony" (Gramophone) |
RAVEL
L'Heure espagnole & Don Quichotte à Dulcinée Orchestre National de Lyon, Leonard Slatkin [ Naxos / CD - released 29/Jan/2016 ] Ravel's operas are both single-act works that have remained popular and regularly performed, keeping them firmly in the public eye while holding a position just beyond the central ground of operatic repertoire. |
RAVEL
Orchestral Works Vol. 1 (Incls 'Alborada del gracioso' & 'Boléro') Orchestre National de Lyon, Leonard Slatkin [ Naxos / CD - released 20/Nov/2012 ] Ravel orchestrated his piano pieces Alborada del gracioso and Pavane pour une infante défunte to great effect; the former gains in suggestive colour, and the latter evokes nostalgic pathos. Another orchestrated work is the Menuet antique, which is... |
RAVEL
Orchestral Works Vol. 1 [Includes 'Alborada del gracioso' & 'Boléro'] BLU-RAY AUDIO ONLY Orchestre National de Lyon, Leonard Slatkin [ Naxos Blu-Ray Audio / Blu-ray Disc - released 25/Apr/2015 ] Ravel orchestrated his piano pieces Alborada del gracioso and Pavane pour une infante défunte to great effect; the former gains in suggestive colour, and the latter evokes nostalgic pathos. Another orchestrated work is the Menuet antique, which is... |
MAURICE RAVEL
Ravel: Orchestral Works Vol. 2 [Includes 'Gaspard de la nuit'] Orchestre National de Lyon, Leonard Slatkin [ Naxos / CD - released 29/Dec/2013 ] "the American shows real empathy with this magical repertoire, and he draws playing of uncommon composure and contagious application from his scruulously prepared Lyons band..Wonderful value at Naxos's price. Bring on the next instalment." Gramophone |
CHABRIER / DEBUSSY / MUSSORGSKY / SCHUMANN
Orchestral Works, Vol. 3: Orchestrations Orchestre National de Lyon, Leonard Slatkin [ Naxos / CD - released 15/Apr/2016 ] Maurice Ravel's incomparable skill in orchestration and command of orchestral colour is evident both in his own works and in his orchestrations of music by other composers. His versions of both Chabrier's vibrant Menuet pompeux and the colourful... |
MAURICE RAVEL
Ravel: Orchestral Works Vol. 4 [Includes 'Daphnis et Chloe'] Orchestre National de Lyon, Leonard Slatkin [ Naxos / CD - released 21/Dec/2016 ] Composed for Sergey Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, Ravel's 'symphonie chorégraphique' Daphnis et Chloé is based on a classical Greco-Roman love story set on the island of Lesbos. He described the work as 'a vast musical fresco', and with its... |
BERLIOZ
Symphonie fantastique / Le Corsaire Overture Orchestre National de Lyon, Leonard Slatkin [ Naxos / CD - released 1/Nov/2012 ] "one of its admirable qualities is the lucidity of playing that responds well to the particular palette of sonorities that Berlioz envisaged...the performance has its merits in precision and in some dramatic explosions" (Gramophone) |
BERLIOZ
Symphonie fantastique, Op. 14 / Le Corsaire Overture, Op. 21 BLU-RAY AUDIO ONLY Orchestre National de Lyon, Leonard Slatkin [ Naxos Blu-Ray Audio / Blu-ray Disc - released 25/Apr/2015 ] Immensely influential, the remarkable Symphonie fantastique was composed while Hector Berlioz was suffering an intense and unreciprocated passion for the Irish actress Harriet Smithson. Its autobiographical tale describes a young musician's... |
BARTOK
The Miraculous Mandarin Orchestre National de Lyon [ Harmonia Mundi / CD - released 17/Jun/2016 ] "The 1924 quasi-ballet that provoked so much indignation at its premiere in Cologne is interpreted by Robertson and his forces with a crisp vivacity rarely evoked on CD." - The Observer (14 Jul 2002) |
CLAUDE DEBUSSY
Debussy Orchestrated Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire / Pascal Rophé [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 25/Feb/2022 ] "Both La boîte à joujoux and the similarly enchanting Children's Corner are performed with deft panache by this quality orchestra." BBC Music |
HENRI DUTILLEUX
Dutilleux: Le Loup / La Fille du Diable / Mélodies / etc Vincent Le Texier (baritone) / Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire, Pascal Rophé [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 16/Feb/2016 ] In the centennial year of the composer's birth, the Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire and Pascal Rophé present a programme which focuses on works composed before 1954, and offers the opportunity to discover a less familiar side of Dutilleux |
ALBERT ROUSSEL
Roussel: Le Festin d'Araignée & Dukas: L'Apprenti Sorcier Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire, Pascal Rophé [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 17/Jan/2020 ] "Rophé's Dukas is understated, yet quietly rewarding...splendid playing and sound." MusicWeb |
JACQUES OFFENBACH
Offenbach: La Vie parisienne (Original Version) Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse; Chœur de l'Opéra national du Capitole de Toulouse; Romain Dumas; Anne-Catherine Gillet; Véronique Gens; Ar [ Bru Zane / 2 CD/Book - released 4/Oct/2024 ] 'The rehearsals for La Vie parisienne are almost driving me insane', wrote librettist Ludovic Halévy a few days before the work's first performance. |
Original Soundtrack / Jacob Groth & Slovak National Orchestra
Music From Stig Larsson's Millennium Trilogy [ Silva Screen / CD - released 12/Jul/2010 ] Jacob Groth is the most celebrated film composer in Denmark and delivers a dark and sinister orchestral score. |
ALEXANDER GLAZUNOV
Glazunov: The Seasons; Ballet Op.67 / Concerto for Violin and Orchestra Op.82 Oscar Shumsky (violin) / Royal Scottish National Orchestra / Neeme Jarvi [ Chandos Classics / CD - released 10/Aug/2007 ] "Neeme Jarvi is always at his best in big, splashy Romantic pieces, and this performance is no exception. He whips the orchestra up to a fine frenzy where necessary, and given Chandos's fine sound and a sensible coupling, you're in for some good... |
MIKHAIL IVANOVICH GLINKA
Glinka: Ivan Susanin (A Life For The Tsar) (complete opera recorded in 1955) Maria Glavachevich, Miro Changalovich, Drago Startz, Vladeta Dimitrievich / The Yugoslav Army Chorus, Belgrade National Opera Orchestra, Oskar Danon [ Decca Australian Eloquence / 3 CD Box Set - released 28/Sep/2018 ] 'The stereo sound is remarkable for its time ... Cangalovc is quite moving as Susanin prepares for the supreme sacrifice in his country's cause.' - Gramophone, June 1974 |