Daniel Auber - Overtures, Vol. 1 (Dario Salvi)

Information

Composer: Daniel Auber

1. Le maçon: Overture
2. Le maçon: Entr'acte to Act III
3. Le maçon: Marche
4. Le timide, ou le nouveau séducteur: Overture
5. Leicester, ou le château de Kenilworth: Overture
6. Leicester, ou le château de Kenilworth: Entr'acte to Act III
7. Le séjour militaire: Overture
8. Emma, ou la promesse imprudente: Overture
9. Emma, ou la promesse imprudente: Entr'acte to Act II
10. Emma, ou la promesse imprudente: Entr'acte to Act III
11. La neige, ou le nouvel Éginhard: Overture
12. La neige, ou le nouvel Éginhard: Entr'acte to Act III
13. Le testament et les billets doux: Overture
14. La bergère châtelaine: Entr'acte to Act II
15. La bergère châtelaine: Entr'acte to Act III
16. La bergère châtelaine: Overture

Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra Pardubice

Dario Salvi, conductor

Date: 2019

Label: Naxos

https://www.naxos.com/CatalogueDetail/?id=8.574005

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Review

ARTISTIC QUALITY: 8 / SOUND QUALITY: 8

They don’t write overtures, entr’actes, or incidental music like this anymore. Even today’s composers can learn from Daniel Auber’s clear-cut orchestration, sure way with a melody, rhythmic vivacity, and impeccable instinct for how to gauge and build climaxes for maximum effect and (one assumes) applause. In this first volume of a projected cycle aiming to cover all of the overtures to Auber’s stage works, we get largely unfamiliar yet recognizable music of the type that used to turn up on both serious and “pop” orchestral concerts far more frequently than in today’s Mahler/Bruckner-heavy programs.

Auber’s not deep, to be sure, yet he’s inventive and ear-catching. What wonderful woodwind writing supported by pizzicato strings at the outset of Le Timide. What nifty scurrying chromatic runs and ostinatos near the Leicester Overture’s conclusion. Or, just try not to relish the tried-and-true “Rossini crescendo” capping Le Séjour militaire: Auber knew what worked, and he made it work without fuss or seeming effort.

Dario Salvi’s sense of style and pacing cannot be faulted, even if his orchestra seems underpowered and lacking in dynamic heft, which may partly be due to dryish sonics. An earlier all-Auber release from Naxos with the Orchestre Régional de Cannes under Wolfgang Dörner offers better engineered and more vivacious performances of different repertoire. Furthermore, that disc also was designated Volume 1; does that mean that Naxos has two rival Auber cycles afoot? However, the present release deserves attention on account of the repertoire’s rarity and Robert Ignatius Letellier’s excellent and informative annotations.

-- Jed Distler, ClassicsToday

More reviews:

http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2020/Feb/Auber_overtures_8574005.htm

https://www.pizzicato.lu/farbig-melodisch-ouverturen-und-zwischenmusiken-von-auber/

https://www.naxos.com/Review/Detail/?catalogueid=8.574005&languageid=EN

https://www.amazon.com/Overtures-CHAMBER-PHILHARMONIC-ORCHESTRA-PARDUBICE/dp/B07YTDDCLH

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Daniel Auber (29 January 1782 – 12 May 1871) was a French composer. He is mostly associated with opéra-comique and composed 35 works in that genre. With librettist Eugène Scribe, he wrote the first French grand opera, La Muette de Portici in 1828, which paved the way for the large-scale works of Giacomo Meyerbeer. Auber held two important official musical posts: he was director of the Paris Conservatoire from 1842 to 1871, and director of the imperial chapel in the Louvre from 1852 to 1870. In addition to his operas, Auber also wrote a substantial quantity of religious music, as well as chamber and orchestral works.

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

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Dario Salvi (born 1975) is a British-Italian conductor, researcher and musicologist. Born in Northern Italy and currently residing in Scotland, Salvi has received musical training in both Italy and the UK. He is a professional bass guitarist and has toured the world playing for bands and orchestras. He is widely regarded as a fast-rising name in opera and operetta, and is known for his expressive gestures and precision of style. Salvi has guest conducted and recorded opera and operetta across the USA, the Middle East and Europe. He is a recording artist with Naxos, and has published three books on Viennese operetta.

https://www.naxos.com/Bio/Person/Dario_Salvi/323089

https://www.dariosalvi.com/

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