Albert Roussel - Psalm 80; Aeneas; Fanfare; Le Bardit des Francs (Bramwell Tovey)

Information

Composer: Albert Roussel

• (01) Psaume 80 (version originale en anglais), Op. 37
• (02) Fanfare pour un sacre païen
• (03) Le Bardit des Francs
• (04) Aeneas, ballet, Op. 54

Benjamin Butterfield, tenor (1)
EuropaChorAkademie, chorus master: Joshard Daus
Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg
Bramwell Tovey, conductor

Date: 2004
Label: Timpani
http://timpani-records.com/1c1082.php

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Review

This is a grab bag of lesser-known Roussel, all composed at various times after the second symphony that was such a watershed in his career. They hold a single thread in common: a very French regard for the powers of illustrative music. Le bardit des francs (“The War Song of the Franks”) is a short and effectively bellicose piece from 1926—“Let us choose spouses whose milk is blood, and who will fill the hearts of our sons with valor!” The orchestration is striking, with at times especially good use of the unaccompanied brass choir. Stark counterpoint, strong dissonances, and frequent thematic contrast make this choral work seem much longer than it is—in the best sense of the word.

The Fanfare pour un sacre païen (“Fanfare for a Pagan Coronation”), from 1921, was undertaken at the request of a British critic during a philosophical discussion, rather than meant to accompany a play. Its extremely short length, less than a minute, militates against creating any mood before its conclusion. Perhaps the pagans in question feared attacks by all those zealous, Johnny-come-lately monotheists. By contrast, Roussel’s 1928 setting of the Psalm 80 is a massive piece that seems to me to overstay its 20-minute residency. The inspiration is labored; and I don’t find the contrasts between sections as strong as in Le bardit des francs, despite the division of the choir into male and female sections, along with the addition of a tenor soloist. The simple, luminous ending is good, but this work tries too hard for monumentality.

Finally, there’s the brilliant Aenéas, in which the Trojan hero of legend, adopted by the French nation as its creator, receives an early Sibylline vision that encompasses the highlights of his future career (thanks in no small part to Virgil’s Aeneid) and goes beyond. It’s the closest thing on this release, stylistically speaking, to Roussel’s latter pair of symphonies, and should please any listener who enjoys the neo-Classical vigor, invention, and emotional directness of those works. I suspect this 1935 ballet with chorus would be far better known if it focused less on Aeneas’s national glories-to-come and spent more time on the love plot with Dido, much as Berlioz did in Les Troyens, but presumably the old Sibyl that gave Aeneas his vision here had long since tired of chick flicks.

Bramwell Tovey, who did such a fine job in Timpani’s recent recording of Polyphème by Jean Cras, delivers the goods in similar fashion on this release. He does a fine job delineating the vertical and horizontal elements in the three larger works, where extra difficulties are posed by the density of Roussel’s musical thought and the occasional originality of his orchestral textures. Firm rhythms, careful accentuation, and strong dynamic contrasts lend all three performances a theatrical air that’s welcome. I’ve not heard any other versions of the psalm setting or Le bardit des francs, but this recording of Aenéas is more muscular than Martinon/ORTF on Ultima Erato 24240, brisker of pace, and with Roussel’s pungent harmonies more pronounced. (It is also digital. The Martinon, though in very good sound, is late analog, and this affects the clarity of Roussel’s contrapuntal textures.)

The Europa Chorakademie lacks blending, but its members possess strong, healthy voices. They also have some problems enunciating and pronouncing the English text to Psalm 80. The chorus is on more confident ground in the other pair of choral pieces. Benjamin Butterfield’s English has more clarity, but he achieves squilo, the ring of the voice, at the cost of constricting the throat. There’s the beginning of a beat in the tone when he does this; and I have to wonder whether we’re not hearing another lyric tenor who wants the fullness of a spinto.

Sound is excellent, with the chorus recessed enough not to overwhelm the complex orchestral timbres. The liner notes, translated from the French, focus on the cultural context of the works, and give hardly a word about the compositions, themselves. Chalk this one up as another winner in Timpani’s continuing series of releases focusing on seldom heard French music of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

-- Barry Brenesal, FANFARE

More reviews:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2004/Oct04/Roussel_psalm80.htm
http://www.allmusic.com/album/albert-roussel-psalm-80-aeneas-fanfare-le-bardit-des-francs-mw0001559831
https://www.amazon.com/Roussel-Fanfare-Bardit-Francs-Aeneas/dp/B0002XNM6Y

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Albert Roussel (5 April 1869 – 23 August 1937) was a French composer. He spent seven years as a midshipman, turned to music as an adult, and became one of the most prominent French composers of the interwar period. His early works were strongly influenced by the impressionism of Debussy and Ravel, while he later turned toward neoclassicism. He studied with Julien Koszul in Roubaix, with Eugène Gigout in Paris, then continued his studies until 1908 at the Schola Cantorum de Paris where one of his teachers was Vincent d'Indy. While studying, he also taught. His students included Erik Satie and Edgard Varèse.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Roussel

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Bramwell Tovey (born 11 July 1953) is a British conductor and composer. Tovey was educated at Ilford County High School, the Royal Academy of Music and the University of London. He was music director of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra (1989-2001), the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra (2000-2018), and the Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra (2002-2006). In November 2017, the BBC Concert Orchestra announced the appointment of Tovey as its next principal conductor. Tovey has also become known as a composer; his compositions include a Cello Concerto and a film score.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bramwell_Tovey

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