Famous French Overtures

"Famous French Overtures" is another of the dozens of Decca Ansermet Legacy discs that I have picked up in the past year. The import Australian Eloquence label has been doing a commendable job reissuing the vast catalog of this wonderful conductor, but they deserve extra praise for confining so much of the previously widely available music to a small selection of reissues, so that releases such as this one have NO duplicated material. To the best of my knowledge, the only piece that appeared previously on CD in the States is the Lalo, and it was on a 20-year old (now OOP) disc in the old London/Jubilee volumes -- they didn't even plop one of these tracks on  Ernest Ansermet: Decca Recordings 1953-1967 [Box Set ] (see my review). As a result, all of these fabulous overtures were virgin territory for me, and I relished the listening experience all the more because of it. While I enjoy listening to Ansermet and the OSR play just about anything, it is in French fare that he truly excels. Interested parties should pick up "Famous French Overtures" while they can, before it's infamously deleted.

Most who are symphonic music listeners will have heard these pieces before. I heard Ambrose Thomas' pieces on Sirius XM and like them enough to seek out this disc. All of the pieces here are interesting and tuneful. The performances are fine for the most part and the sound quality is very good.

Uncommon 19th century repertoire, wonderfully wrought ouvertures, in splendid performances. The Lalo overture to his opera Le Roi d'Ys by itself is worth the entire collection. The Auber overtures convey the precocious musical professionalism of the mid-century Parisian theatrical and operatic world that so attracted Wagner and later, Stravinsky. Enjoy!

Great French Overtures

This set of nine French overtures was recorded in 1960 at the Victoria Hall, Geneva in Switzerland. This was a favourite venue for the Decca recording engineers as it had wonderful acoustics and even today, over 55 years later, this recording easily stands the test of time and is superior as an audio product. The Suisse Romande Orchestra did not always have a reputation for infallible technical security but on this occasion they prove to be more than capable of inspirational playing.This was largely the result of their years of working with Ernest Ansermet, their chief conductor, who was noted for his devotion to the printed notes in the musical scores that he conducted. He was opposed to anything that was added in the form of emotional overlays preferring to concentrate on structural clarity and directness of expression. This now makes his conducting sound very modern to our ears as audiences have now become familiar with ‘period’ performances with leaner sounds and similar directness of expression.That approach perfectly suits these overtures that were intended to capture an audience’s attention with music strong in sparkle and verve. The disc’s sub-title of ‘Famous’ is interesting as, in 1960 when these recording were made, all this music would have been familiar to concert goers. That is no longer likely to be the case as these pieces have gradually slipped out of the regular repertoire.The two overtures by Offenbach presented here will probably be the most familiar today and collectors may also recognise the Fra Diavolo overture by Auber. The remaining overtures by Lalo, Herold, Thomas and Boieldieu will be less familiar and, more likely, unknown. Nevertheless they are all well-crafted pieces and are full of melodic invention and do not deserve to pass into musical oblivion.As a result this selection must qualify as an invaluable collector’s item and in performances and recordings such as witnessed on this disc, they amount to an almost irresistible ‘must have’ item.

This set of nine French overtures was recorded in 1960 at the Victoria Hall, Geneva in Switzerland. This was a favourite venue for the Decca recording engineers as it had wonderful acoustics and even today, over 55 years later, this recording easily stands the test of time and is superior as an audio product. The Suisse Romande Orchestra did not always have a reputation for infallible technical security but on this occasion they prove to be more than capable of inspirational playing.This was largely the result of their years of working with Ernest Ansermet, their chief conductor, who was noted for his devotion to the printed notes in the musical scores that he conducted. He was opposed to anything that was added in the form of emotional overlays preferring to concentrate on structural clarity and directness of expression. This now makes his conducting sound very modern to our ears as audiences have now become familiar with ‘period’ performances with leaner sounds and similar directness of expression.That approach perfectly suits these overtures that were intended to capture an audience’s attention with music strong in sparkle and verve. The disc’s sub-title of ‘Famous’ is interesting as, in 1960 when these recording were made, all this music would have been familiar to concert goers. That is no longer likely to be the case as these pieces have gradually slipped out of the regular repertoire. The two overtures by Offenbach presented here will probably be the most familiar today and collectors may also recognise the Fra Diavolo overture by Auber. The remaining overtures by Lalo, Herold, Thomas and Boieldieu will be less familiar and, more likely, unknown. Nevertheless they are all well-crafted pieces and are full of melodic invention and do not deserve to pass into musical oblivion.As a result this selection must qualify as an invaluable collector’s item and in performances and recordings such as witnessed on this disc, they amount to an almost irresistible ‘must have’ item.

This is a really top-class recording and many of the Overtures were new to me. Top class orchestral playing under that master conductor Ernest Ansermet.

A cette époque, on peut noter l'engouement de Decca pour ce populaire répertoire puisque, par exemple, "Zampa" de Ferdinand Hérold fut gravée non moins de trois fois en une décennie pour ce label : précédemment par Jean Martinon avec le London Philharmonic (février 1951) puis Albert Wolff (Société des Concerts du Conservatoire, novembre 1957).L'interprétation du maestro helvète se distingue par sa majesté, sa puissance dramatique : vertus idéales pour illustrer les sombres menaces d'engloutissement qui animent la légendaire cité du "Roi d'Ys" de Lalo. Même si Paul Paray y sut mieux exacerber une féroce intensité (Mercury, mars 1958).Superbement capté par les micros, dans la généreuse acoustique du Victoria Hall de Genève (mai 1960), le charnu orchestre suisse habille somptueusement ces pages, parfois au risque d'engraisser leur lourdeur : le cancan de "Orphée aux enfers" s'encombre d'un traînant embonpoint. A comparer avec la version de Karajan et son fringuant Philharmonia (Emi)...On en apprécie d'autant mieux les passages où l'écriture est transparente, tels le solo de cor, les phrases de hautbois et clarinette dans un "Raymond" dirigé avec brio.Toutefois, une baguette un peu trop univoquement sérieuse ne parvient pas à détendre l'ambiance des moments les plus souriants. Elle aborde la "Dame Blanche" d'une fort élégante manière, mais cette grâce ne manque-t-elle pas d'insouciant esprit ?En tout cas, ces lectures s'honorent par leur sage décorum, la haute tenue de leur style châtié, et rappellent la pertinence de ces lignes que Carl Schuricht écrivit en hommage à Ansermet (1943) : « il va sans dire que chez un tel homme, il ne peut y avoir aucune recherche de l'effet et que seule domine la flamme sacrée de la sincérité ».