Georges Auric - Phèdre; Le Peintre et son modèle (Arturo Tamayo)

Information

Composer: Georges Auric

• (01) Phèdre, ballet
• (16) Le Peintre et son modèle, ballet

Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg

Arturo Tamayo, conductor

Date: 2005

Label: Timpani

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Review

Martin Kahane's notes pay Auric the tribute of giving us no biographical background on Auric except his involvement in these two ballet scores. It is as if we already know that he was born in Lodève, Hérault in France. A pupil of D'Indy he was at first strongly influenced by Satie. As his individuality grew so he became recognised alongside Durey and Honegger as part of Les Six. We know Auric now because of his film music of which there are collections on both Chandos and Marco Polo. In fact in addition there are fourteen ballets written between 1923 and 1952 as well as some chamber music, songs, piano solos and a clutch of orchestral works.

Across the fifteen movements of the music for the Phèdre ballet Auric proves himself an adherent of a stern and gaunt tonality at times like Barber's Medea ballet music. There is much that is thunderously emphatic with the message hammered home with tragic intensity as for example in the Danse Funèbre which is more march than dance. The boiling euphoric tension of this music passingly recalls that of Igor Markevitch although Auric always manages to find a more yielding humane accent. His music is also softened by his evident admiration for Ravel's methods. There is also a Bliss-like abandon about some of the more lively writing as in Danse de joie. The tragic element gripes and shudders especially in the Despair and Fury of Theseus and the Death of Phèdre but even in that last scene Auric writes much that is tender, gentle and imbued with consolation.

Le Peintre et son Modèle is another ballet written one year before Phèdre. This is much shorter and has only seven scenes. Understandably the score is in much the same language as Phèdre except that the jagged tragic element is not as evident. Other moods are in play here including the waltz, an absurdist agenda (like something from Prokofiev’s Love of Three Oranges) and a glittering and starry enchantment in the last movement; contentedly magical writing.

Revelatory experiences here with Auric presented in a new light. Lovely music bound to please those already enthralled by Markevitch, Stravinsky and Bliss.

-- Rob Barnett, MusicWeb International

More reviews:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classRev/2006/Apr06/Auric_Phedre_1C1090.htm

https://www.amazon.com/Phedre-Peintre-Son-G-AURIC/dp/B000BI0PY2

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Georges Auric (15 February 1899 – 23 July 1983) was a French composer. Auric studied music at the Paris Conservatoire, as well as composition with Vincent d'Indy at the Schola Cantorum de Paris and Albert Roussel. He was grouped into Les Six by music critic Henri Collet. Following his early successes as an avant-garde composer, Auric went through a transitional period during the 1930s, abandoning the elitist attitudes of his earlier years in favour of a populist approach. He composed music for a large number of films over the years, including films produced in France, England, and America.

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

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Arturo Tamayo (born 3 August 1946 in Madrid) is a Spanish conductor. He studied music at the Madrid Conservatory, and had further studies in Basel with Pierre Boulez and in Vienna with Witold Rowicki. From 1979-1998 he served as professor of 20th century music at the Freiburg Musikhochschule, guest-conducting many European orchestras. Later, he settled in Spain, became a professor at the University of Alcalá de Henares. Tamayo has conducted the most prominent theaters and auditoriums such as the Teatro Real and the Teatro de la Zarzuela. In 2002 he was awarded the Spanish National Performance Award.
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arturo_Tamayo
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/arturo-tamayo-mn0000315164

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