Customer Reviews

Paray: Symphony No.1 In C/Mass For The 500th Anniversary Of The Death Of Joan Of Arc

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4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you want Paray's Mass, get his own recording on Mercury (you also get his extraordinary Saint Saens 3rd and his own voice thanking the Mass's performers on the other side). The maestro's own recordings progress with the types of tempo changes and singing inherent with the liturgical functions of a Catholic Mass. Paul's is by comparison a concert runthrough, and everyone's Latin is kind of a clipped Brit stiff-upper-lip schoolbook parlance.

The Symphony No. 1 here is given a clear, well-focused reading, interpretatively an appropriate straight-shot. The problem is the unidiomatic orchestra, especially winds, which can't display the compositional voicings a Frenchman like Paray obviously heard in his head. On the old Carthagene vinyl disc (beautifully recorded with the French National Orchestra giving its all) the lush sonorities of string and brass pile up but the winds are ovelaid like jewels on a platinum setting, and the old man himself, wishing to make less of a point, pulls out the stops and moves the thing along. It's a wonderful piece, revealing more detail every time you listen to it. The current account doesn't do that. It's there, you realize it's a good piece, but you feel there's a lot more inherent in it than you get to hear.

That old Carthagene disc icluded another composer-led performance of the Mass. The vocal quartet is preferable to the Mercury and the chorus far outsings its Rackham Choir and the Scots in the new version.

But if you can't find the Carthagene and want Paray's symphony, you'll have to buy this. However, it's no more than what you'll hear on your first listen. And, after all, since you're going to buy Paray's SS3 anyway, why not try hunting for the Carthagene?

Critical standard in non-standard repetoire naturally expects considerations of aesthetic contexts, and in that my previous report of this disk was amiss.

So: the Paray symphony draws from the Gallican traditions of Dukas, Chausson, Franck, Magnard, even Albert and Schmitt, in short, an earlier age, with even some Berliozian brass thrown in for good measure (a fortuitous measure). Already 52 and conductor at the Colonne, Paray was drawing on the last resources of French Romanticism.

Berlioz figures in the Mass, too, as would the aforementioned Magnard and possibly evena little Gounod and Duparc. These were Paray's milieu, his aesthetic mentors from when he won the Prix de Rome in 1911.

With that, I find the other reviewer here very wide of the mark when he drags Roussel, Milhaud, and Rutter--even more peripheral--into the discussion, as does the conductor James Paul, who as a Paray devotee should have known better. In his interviews,Paul talks about the characteristic Paray glow and section "breath" or sound he always admired as a youth, and yet gives the listener none of it in his performances here, though as Le Mousnier says in his bio of Paray, no one really knows what exactly it was that Paray did to convey his aesthetic, and it will remain a great and admirable mystery.

The choice of recording these works with these forces could be appreciated as a stopgap if the thoroughly beautiful composer-led performances hadn't been brought out of ORTF vaults. Rather than sink your bucks here, I suggest you hang onto your turntable and have a broker run down the Carthagene vinyl I suggest.

Only then will these works, the symphony in particular, open up for you. It will seem to you that Vincent D'Indy had finished out some sketches and Magnard wrote a few more symphonies after he was shot dead by the Germans as they closed in on his villa.

This is still a 3-star, and a queasy one at that.

OK, you've seen other pieces by conductors and you're not sure what to expect. Sure, Bernstein was a pretty good composer as well as a great conductor, but Furtwangler couldn't compose his way out of a paper bag. What to expect from French conductor Paul Paray?

Well, the answer depends on which piece you listen to on this disc. If you listened to the symphony, you might think Paray should have stayed in front of the orchestra. If you listen to the Mass, you might be wondering what other treasures he composed.

We'll start the symphony. The other reviewer here suggests that the performance and orchestra prevent the listener from hearing what a terrific piece this is. I dissent.

It's not an awful, unlistenable piece by any means. However, it's rather undistinguished melodically and the orchestration is rather stock French (ala Roussel among others) emphasizing the winds. It lacks the panache one finds in Milhaud's best music or the sudden tenderness that appears in Poulenc. Perhaps a quicker performance might cover up its warts, but I still think you'll probably pass over it to listen to the Mass on most occasions.

The Mass for the 500th Anniversary of the Death of Joan of Arc is far more memorable, although it's much less French than the symphony. Melodically, much of it (& especially the quieter bits) reminds me of the Requiem by John Rutter (written much later) combined with other English influences (esp. Vaughan Williams). There is an ever-so-slightly saccharine quality to some of the themes which isn't unappealing because there is enough variety to prevent them from growing wearisome.

Where Paray parts from Rutter is in the orchestration. Paray uses a much larger orchestra with the brass employed spectacularly at certain points (especially in the Sanctus). Still, the orchestration has few of the French qualities found in the symphony because the brass are more prominent than the woodwinds.

Overall, it's not a terribly "devotional" mass, but it is a wonderfully listenable piece with memorable themes and some overwhelming moments.

Although I haven't heard Paray's version, the other reviewer here is far to critical of this performance. Where he finds clipped "English" choral singing, I find a rich but clear choral sound that brings out the emotion in the music without creating the sense of leadenness that sometimes occurs with oversized choruses. (In fact, the sound is a major plus here...rich but detailed.) The four soloists sing with focus and appear to enjoy themselves and conductor Paul clearly loves the piece.

Overall, if you can find Paray's recording, that is probably the place to start, particularly since it's cheaper. However, given the fact that Mercury's sound can be very harsh, you won't go wrong by picking up this version. And I guarantee, if you like the Rutter Requiem, you'll love this.

Paul Paray (1886-1979) is still well-known to most music-lovers as a first-rate conductor, and indeed his own compositions haven't entirely fallen from favor either. This disc definitely shows why, for this really is excellent music - conservative in style for its time, perhaps, but imaginative, inventive, stirring, well-crafted, and beautifully scored. Now, both works here - his first symphony and the Joan of Arc Mass - are available elsewhere (the Mass in a recording conducted by the composer himself), and I haven't heard the alternatives. Apparently some critics think the recordings at hand don't quite hold up to the competition, and I may, hesitantly, imagine why in the case of the symphony, but I doubt that anyone coming to know them in these versions will be seriously disappointed.

The symphony was written in 1934 and belongs to the tradition established by the symphonies of Franck, Chausson, Bizet, Biarent, and Dukas. This is high-romantic music with a dramatic nerve, somewhat sturdy (in a noble manner), generously melodic, eloquent, and warm, and the format is at least mildly cyclical in the manner of Franck, with the ideas of the first movement laying the foundations for the finale. The opening movement itself is noble and compelling, the second is flowing and beautiful, the allegretto melodic but suggesting profound depths and the finale ebullient and jubilant; it is a fine work - not very original, and perhaps not sufficiently striking to earn a place with the Dukas or Franck (or Biarent) symphonies, but a memorable and rewarding work nonetheless.

The Mass is something of a masterpiece, however, full of marvels and wonders. The restrained Kyrie is beautiful with an alluring streak and the Gloria both glorious and exciting, raising to great heights before lending itself to a poetic Miserere. The Quoniam is dramatic and magnificent, the Sanctus jubilant, the Benedictus strikingly wonderful and the Agnus Dei serenely haunting but featuring an astounding final, heart-stopping climax, seemingly out of nowhere but making complete sense in context. A quite simply wonderful work.

As for the performances they are generally good, and James Paul and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra seem in general to have the measure of the music, but in the symphony they sometimes sound a little bit hesitant, resulting in some less than ideally clear textures and a somewhat blunt attack - though much of it is handled with great beauty and character as well. The Mass fares better overall, mostly because of some fine choral work by the Royal Scottish National Chorus and an always dependable, often impressive, lineup of soloists. The sound is a little recessed but perfectly fine. In sum, then, this may not be a perfect performance, but it is still more than adequate, and no one with even a passing interest in French post-romantic music would want to miss these works.