Chabrier - A la musique · La Sulamite · Gwendoline · Larghetto pour cor · Valses romantiques · Habanera / Hendricks · Mentzer · del Vescovo · Capitole de Toulouse · Plasson

Emmanuel Chabrier (Composer), Michel Plasson (Conductor), Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse (Orchestra), Barbara Hendricks (Performer), Suzanne Mentzer (Performer), Pierre del Vescovo (Performer), Choeurs de Toulouse Midi-Pyrenees (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Barbara Hendricks, Suzanne Mentzer, Pierre del Vescovo, Choeurs de Toulouse Midi-Pyrenees
• Orchestra: Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse
• Conductor: Michel Plasson
• Composer: Emmanuel Chabrier
• Audio CD (January 12, 1993)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: EMI Capitol
• ASIN: B000005GJA
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #146,924 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Appealing collection of Chabrier rarities, October 8, 2011

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G.D. (Norway) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Chabrier - A la musique · La Sulamite · Gwendoline · Larghetto pour cor · Valses romantiques · Habanera / Hendricks · Mentzer · del Vescovo · Capitole de Toulouse · Plasson (Audio CD)

This is a very valuable release in that it covers Chabrier's less familiar orchestral works. I guess most readers will have a collection of Chabrier's orchestral works already (if not, then the companion volume to this one is one that can be enthusiastically recommended), and the one at hand would fill it out nicely. The music here is generally less exuberant and witty than most listeners will be used to from the composer, and one has to admit that the serious Chabrier is less immediately striking, but he's still able to weave some magic into many of the scores here. La Sulamite for mezzo, female choir and orchestra is an obvious case in point. This lush, almost lascivious score evidently had some influence on Debussy, and although the music is not among Chabrier's most memorable, there are some marvelous moments and some imaginative harmonic twists as it moves from a reflective opening to a voluptuous climax.

A la musique for soprano and orchestra is charming and sensual if no unqualified masterpiece either, and the three Valses romantiques (orchestrated by Mottl) are very appealing - the music here is more obviously by the "familiar" Chabrier, with two very light pieces and a slightly more troubled third. The late opera Gwendoline is a problematic work; having been overwhelmed by Wagner's Tristan Chabrier evidently set out to create his own very Wagnerian work. With the composer completely out of his own waters and relinquishing the tricks he excelled at it is hardly a completely successful work, and its shortcomings show in the selections given here. The overture contains a memorable theme but develops into mere note-spinning and brash banality. The aria from act 1 is better, containing a particularly wonderful, touching central section.

Then there is the very early Larghetto for horn and orchestra (which is larghetto only in the beginning), a lyrical and attractive piece worth hearing if not exactly a masterpiece. The much better known, swaggering Habanera, however, is a minor masterpiece, and it receives a very appealing performance. Indeed the orchestral playing is generally very good, even if Plasson does choose some questionable tempos in the waltzes; the more serious works are opulent, full of color, drama and sensuousness, however. The chorus is generally fine if a little bit rough at times, and among the soloists Susan Mentzer is very convincing in La Sulamite, firm and warm, and Barbara Hendricks is superb in A la Musique and the Gwendoline aria. Pierre del Vescovo is at least decent in the Larghetto, even if his tone could conceivably have been richer. The sound is decent if not ideally clear or balanced. In sum, this is a fine and appealing disc of attractive rarities, despite a few minor caveats, that is easily recommended.