Customer Reviews

Chabrier: España, Suite Pastorale, Fète Polonaise, Gwendoline Overture, Danse Slave

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4 star:		(1)
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If you're a true devotee of Chabrier, you've of course, known about this collection since about 1961. It's never been bettered. Sure, you keep Ansermet, Dervaux, Wolff and a few others knocking about your vinyl and CD shelves. But when weeding-out time comes around, this one stays.

The bon vivant that was Paul Paray understood that to keep good dinner conversation going you have to move things along, keep up your end of the chatter, and keep it light and elegant. That's all Chabrier ever wanted and his music is easily understood and loved.

Unfortunately, especially in the case of Ansermet, too many try to make Chabrier more than he wants to be. Ansermet's tempi are down, while Paray's are up-up-up...and lo, and behold, if you look at the score, the old man proves true to the composer's markings...the only recorded maestro who does.

What's there not to understand? Paray's is THE Chabrier disc...and the Roussel, thrown in at no extra charge, proves a perfect digestive for an elegant and jovial dinner.

Keeping it Short.

Paray Throws out an "Espana" that makes the roof shake! "Espana" is by far one of my Favorite pieces of music ever written and to know that Paray and the DSO have given it their Personal and Intense Treatment is as Martha Stewart would say, "A Good Thing!" the Flavour of this "Espana" has NEVER Been more Spanish, too many Conductors see this as a vision of Spain through French Musical Ideals, which essentialy it IS, but still it is a vision of SPAIN, Not France. As much of a Patrioitic Frenchman as Paray was, he never let that stand in the way of making music correctly and keeps the Flamenco and Bolero elements of this work in full frontal beauty! He charges straight ahead into this Masterpiece, the Opening Pizzicatos as Piquant and Alert as anything in music ever! the Tuttis and Crescendos all Vividly and Lushly Over-the-top, Very Spanish, Indeed! But as well, the ELEGANCE of the music, that typically French Feeling, of Elegant Musical Discourse is also never lost, one would not say this is a POLITE recording, Nor Genteel, but it is Exceptionally Suave and Poised! Very French, Indeed! so, this music is pointedly a admixture of both French and Spanish Sensibilities yes, but again, you feel the Heat and Spice of Spain in this recording (and not the Sheen and Reserve of France), Most Definitely. all the other works on the disc are Glorious as well, and the cool thing is, one gets to have the opportunity to have Paray and Jarvi (Neeme) duke it out in their conceptions of the "Fete Polonaise" Paray here on this Disc and Jarvi on the Acclaimed Disc "Encore" i wouldn't say it's a tie, but they both succeed on different levels. Paray may in most minds take the "Ruban en Bleu" But Jarvi by no means is a Slouch in conducting the "Polonaise" but again, i stress, they achieve a high level of satisfaction in the work on two completely different levels. Both equally Masterful.

I have an lp with some of this music and hoped to replace it with a cd. It's taken many years for the cd to be released but it was worth the wait. Paray produced clean, rhythmically alive performances with his virtuoso orchestra. The sound quality is wonderful considering its age. The music is not profound but it is exceedingly entertaining. Better performances of this music may exist but I'd be surprised.

If Paul Paray was a race horse, I'd place my bet on him each time to win...and indeed I would. This former conductor of the Detroit Symphony has the "Midas Touch", for everything he touches turns to gold. This CD of Chabrier and Roussel is no exception, and belongs in everyone's musical library. No matter how many other recordings of these pieces you own...these renditions are essential. If the only Chabrier work you know is "Espana", you are in for a real treat, as all his music is tunefully delightful. The Roussel "Suite in F" is a nice constrast in musical styles. Consistently, each Paray/Detroit recording is a gala event. The pieces contained on this CD are all very familiar to me, and yet it's as though I'm hearing them through a different set of ears. Conductor Paray brings out orchestral nuances like few other conductors can. Each work is played with energy, finesse, impeccable interpretation, and with extraordinary sound, which is a Mercury Living Presence trademark. Do yourself a favor, anything that Paul Paray and the Detroit Symphony have recorded...BUY!!! I have not lost a race yet. Very Highly recommended.

This wonderful disc, a collection of Chabrier's best orchestral pieces plus Albert Roussel's Suite in F, is one of the best ever recorded by the Mercury label team. What we have here are justly famous performances recorded in a Golden Age where conductors like Paul Paray (1886-1979) and his Detroit Symphony Orchestra players could bring to the audience the best of the score they had in front of them. The highlight of the disc is, of course, España, brilliantly interpreted and recorded. Some people say that Sir Thomas Beecham's 1939 recording of this piece is unsurpassable, but I doubt. Paray's recording for Mercury is even better because of the first-rate stereo sound. The Suite Pastorale, the Fête Polonaise and the other pieces of the discs are also delightful accounts. By the way, Paul Paray was French (born in the fishing town of Le Tréport), not Canadian, as you may think after reading some reviews of Paray's records in this site. To summarize: a marvelous disc which was awarded a Diapason d'Or and a CHOC, awards from French magazines Diapason and Le Monde de la Musique. One last note: If you want to see a live performance of España on DVD I suggest you to buy "Spanish Night" (EuroArts), with Placido Domingo conducting the Berlin Philharmonic, available on Amazon.com.

An exceedingly well recorded and beautifully performed set of charming works, this disc rivals Ernest Ansermet's superb recordings on London. The sound here is better, but Ansermet is idiomatic and very, very French and full of savoir faire. Either is a good addition to one's collection, but Ansermet's is less costly, too.

This disc is a revelation! Everybody is familiar with Chabrier's Espana, but I have never heard it played more succinctly than it is here by Paul Paray and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. It is exciting , and it makes your heart skip a beat. Moreover, for those of you who are only familiar with this work of Chabrier's art, you are in for a special treat. Every cut on the disc is as exciting as the first! I will mention Danse Slave and Joyeuse Marche as worthy of admiration, but every one of Chabrier's selections is worthy of high praise!

I was not as familiar with the music of Albert Roussel before I obtained this disc, but I was anything but disappointed. His Suite in F is a delightful selection which adds to the desirability of this great CD.

I would be amiss if I failed to comment on the fantastic sound quality of this disc. Mercury Living Presence sound cannot be surpassed! The only recordings that can be compared for quality of sound are some of the RCA Victor Living Stereo discs made by Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Most highly recommended!!

Seven relevant names come to our mind at the moment to evoke the most distinguished and aristocratic Ambassadors of the French music: Charles Munch, Ernest Ansermet, Leopold Stokowski, Charles Dutoit, Igor Markevitch, George Petre and Paul Paray.

Paray was the true harbinger of the Detroit Symphony. Indeed, he knew to give this orchestra a limpid, polite and refined sound, with impecable phrasing and overwhelming involving expression.

This album gives us the minimum facets of Chabrier (1841-1893)as inspired artist, gifted of a mesmerizing musical imagination, where his compositions are like a sumptuous canvas, filled of radiant vitality and expansive lyricism.

His talent was acknowledged into his natal country and overseas. And this is indeed, one of his most inspring recordings. The sound quality is simply outstanding as well as the rest of these works.

A monumental account of the best of Chabrier, a composer born in France, but Spanish at heart.

A must-have in your invaluable collection.