Monday, September 13, 2010

Roussel: Symphony No. 3

Well, Satyr has been giving us a number of fine recordings by Albert Wolff lately, over on the blog "78 toeren en LPs," and here's my contribution to the Wolff-fest: the first recording of Roussel's Third Symphony, from a set of French Polydor 78s.  This was recorded c. 1932, shortly after Wolff and the Lamoureux Orchestra gave the Paris premiére of the symphony, and only a year or two after the world premiére, in October 1930, by the Boston Symphony under Koussevitzky, who commissioned the work as part of the orchestra's 50th anniversary celebrations.  It was a rare honor in those days for a contemporary work to be recorded so soon after its unveiling!

Roussel: Symphony No. 3 in G minor, Op. 42
Lamoureux Orchestra conducted by Albert Wolff
Recorded c. 1932
French Polydor 566126 through 566128, three 78-rpm records
Link (FLAC files, 56.18 MB)
Link (MP3 files, 25.75 MB)

Albert Roussel (1869-1937) is one of those curious composers (like Scriabin or Szymanowski) whose works written in the last fifteen or so years of his life are so unlike his earlier, yet fully mature works that it's sometimes hard to believe they're by the same composer.  In Roussel's case, he migrated from a post-Impressionistic style to a somewhat abrasive neo-classicism as found in this Third Symphony.

9 comments:

  1. Hi Bryan,

    I look forward to this! I don't know much about Wolff so it will be fun to explore his art.

    Thanks!

    Fred

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  2. Bryan...just wondered if you might also have a copy of Roussel's "Bacchus et Arriane, Suite No. 3"?

    Gil

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  3. Thanks Bryan, for this beautiful peace of music, and also for the link to the analysis from 1935!

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  4. Gil - sorry, but I'm unaware of a third suite from "Bacchus et Ariane." I do have the second suite, by Munch and the Boston Symphony, on an early 50s RCA LP.

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  5. Bryan...yes, please post the 2nd Suite (Bacchus et Ariane), with Munch. What else is included on this disk?

    BTW...does anyone know what has happened with Ice's "Classics" blog? It seems to have suddenly disappeared. I was just there last night.

    Gil

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  6. Gil - LM-1741 also has Honegger's Symphony No. 5 (Di tre re) and Ravel's Pavane for a Dead Princess.

    It'll be a few days before I can transfer this since I'm not currently set up for LPs, but stay tuned.

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  7. Bryan...I guess I forgot about it having to be 78s. Just wondered if there "was" a 78 for this?

    Gil

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  8. No, but there was a 45 - set WDM-1741, a four-record set. I imagine it's pretty rare in that form.

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