Daniel Auber - Overtures, Vol. 5 (Dario Salvi)

Information

Composer: Daniel Auber

1. Zanetta, S. 33: Overture
2. Zanetta, S. 33: Act II Entr'acte
3. Zanetta, S. 33: Act III Entr'acte
4. Philippe Musard - Quadrille No. 2 (after Auber)
5. Zerline, S. 42: Overture
6. Zerline, S. 42: Entr'acte
7. Zerline, S. 42: Act III Introduction
8. Zerline, S. 42, Airs de ballet: La Styrienne
9. Zerline, S. 42, Airs de ballet: Pas chinois
10. Zerline, S. 42, Airs de ballet: Les muses et les grâces
11. Zerline, S. 42, Airs de ballet: Quadrilles des fous
12. Zerline, S. 42, Airs de ballet: La sentimentale et l'enjouée
13. Zerline, S. 42, Airs de ballet: Le bal d'enfants
14. Zerline, S. 42, Airs de ballet: Le carnaval de Palerme

Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra

Dario Salvi, conductor

Date: 2021

Label: Naxos

https://www.naxos.com/CatalogueDetail/?id=8.574335

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Review

Readers of Jules Verne will remember that among the treasures of human civilisation that Captain Nemo assembled in the library of the Nautilus was ‘sheet music by Weber, Rossini, Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn, Meyerbeer, Herold, Wagner, Auber …’ It’s a cautionary tale in more ways than one. Auber’s stature as a classic is now almost completely submerged (at least in the UK), though I recall hearing the overtures to Fra Diavolo and Les diamants de la couronne in amateur concerts as recently as the early 1990s.

Well, it’s our loss. This is frequently delightful music, easily on a par with Meyerbeer or Donizetti, and if there’s something faintly quixotic about Naxos’s continuing project to commit Auber’s overtures to disc (along with a fair proportion of his ballet music), it’s no less listenable for it. This fifth disc in the series deals with the 1840 rags-to-riches romance Zanetta, and the Overture and extensive ballet music from Zerline (1851), whose orange-seller heroine (the libretto is by Scribe) is abducted by pirates before fulfilling her royal destiny. ‘The plot has little innate dramatic interest’, remarks Robert Letellier, whose booklet notes are exemplary.

But there’s musical interest here aplenty. The melodic invention – Italianate with a French accent – is winning, the orchestration is vivid and the Janáček Philharmonic play with considerable polish for Dario Salvi, with shapely woodwind and violin solos, and a jaunty lilt to the dance rhythms in the various quadrilles and styriennes. The two overtures develop a fine momentum. Overall, Salvi goes for grandeur and breadth rather than champagne sparkle: there’s certainly scope for more panache here, and Auber’s invention could surely support it. But these are attractive accounts of music that deserves better than its current obscurity.

-- Richard Bratby, Gramophone

More reviews:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2022/Jan/Auber-Zerline-8574335.htm

https://lightmusicsociety.com/2022/02/21/auber-overtures-vol-5-zanetta-zerline/

https://www.wtju.net/auber-overtures-volume-5-goes-beyond-overtures/

https://www.naxos.com/Review/Detail/?catalogueid=8.574335&languageid=EN

https://www.amazon.com/Overtures-5-Janacek-Philharmonic-Orchestra/dp/B09JJ7CJCJ

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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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