Chausson - Poème · Poème de l'amour et de la mer · Symphonie / Juillet · Le Loux · Montreal SO · Dutoit

Francois Le Roux (Artist), Ernest Chausson (Composer), Charles Dutoit (Conductor), Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal (Orchestra), Chantal Juillet (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Chantal Juillet
• Orchestra: Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal
• Conductor: Charles Dutoit
• Composer: Ernest Chausson
• Audio CD (May 9, 2000)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Decca
• ASIN: B00004SC5R
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #365,003 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Symphony In B Flat Major, Op. 20: I. Lent - Allegro Vivo

2. Symphony In B Flat Major, Op.20: II. Tres Lent

3. Symphony In B Flat Major, Op. 20: III. Anime

4. Poeme, Op.25

5. Poeme De L'Amour Et De La Mer, Op. 19: I. La Fleur Des Eaux

6. Poeme De L'Amour Et De La Mer, Op. 19: Interlude: Lent Et Triste

7. Poeme De L'Amour Et De La Mer, Op. 19: II. La Mort De L'Amour

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Dry and passionless performance, August 15, 2006

By 

Some Guy from Ohio (Columbus, OH United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Chausson - Poème · Poème de l'amour et de la mer · Symphonie / Juillet · Le Loux · Montreal SO · Dutoit (Audio CD)

As is typical of Dutoit's recordings, the sound quality is top drawer, and technically there is not a note out of place. Everything is perfectly in synch and in tune yet, for all that, this performance left me daydreaming and bored. The exposition of the first movement was completely lacking in drive, and the sense of architecture and contrast evident in Charles Munch's account is totally lacking here. But then, Munch's recording has its own problems, including the 1962 sound quality (average or below even for its day), occasional intonation problems, and generally weak brass playing. It is unfortunate that this piece is not recorded more frequently. In any case, the Dutoit version features an excellent brass section and modern sound. If you like his other recordings you will probably like this, but if you prefer what is, after all, a Romantic work to be played with a touch of Romanticism, I would recommend Munch on RCA (available currently as an import).

11 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Music & the violin,a refuge againt world, love and death, August 10, 2003

By 

Jacques COULARDEAU "A soul doctor, so to say" (OLLIERGUES France) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Chausson - Poème · Poème de l'amour et de la mer · Symphonie / Juillet · Le Loux · Montreal SO · Dutoit (Audio CD)

In his « Poème », Chausson reaches an extreme point of romanticism. The violin is like the voice of the soul in a world that is so distant that it hardly exists. The violin becomes a refuge for the soul with all its subtleties perfectly explored and elaborated to become a narcissistic mirror into which the very soul dives like in a sea to reach its own image, a quasi-deserted island in the middle of the ocean. This is a myth that is going to be worked upon in depth by American playwrights (Eugene O'Neill) and poets (Hart Crane) after Walt Whitman. This music is the delicate music of a mind or even a spirit that tries to rise over the turmoil of the world, a turmoil that nearly disappears with this rising, isolating introspective movement. The violinist has to make a tremendous effort not to project his/her music but to coil it upon itself to charm and mesmerize the audience into entering it and getting lost, body and soul alike, in the subtle arabesques of the melody, if it is a melody and not a neverending descent into voided existence.

In his « Poème de l'amour et de la mer » Chausson gives us the antagon of the impressionists' vision of the sea near Honfleur, of the English Channel. It is an evasion, an escape from the earth, over the sea, to the island of sorrow and mourning. The poet and the musician are weeping over their lost love, their lost blooming lilacs, their lost life that opens only onto death seen as a life totally enclosed on and in itself, a life that becomes blind and deaf to the world.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University of Perpignan

4 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Chason poems etc. Charles Dutoit MSO, June 12, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Chausson - Poème · Poème de l'amour et de la mer · Symphonie / Juillet · Le Loux · Montreal SO · Dutoit (Audio CD)

Charles Dutoit and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra do an excelent portrayel of Chasons work. It is a joy to listen to music played with such flair and profesionalism.