When Serge Diaghilev commissioned Le Dieu bleu (‘The Blue God’), he was hoping to repeat the success Sheherazade had enjoyed when the Ballets Russes burst on to the Parisian scene a few years earlier. It was choreographed by Michel Fokine to a libretto by Jean Cocteau; Léon Bakst designed the sets and costumes.

The ballet is set in mythical India. A Young Girl interrupts a ceremony where a Young Man, whom she loves, is about to become a priest. As punishment for this blasphemy, she is condemned to be put to death by monsters, but a Goddess rises from the lotus, then the Blue God appears and plays his flute to calm the monsters, thus saving her life.

Mata Hari was courted to dance the role of the Goddess, but Diaghilev insulted her by asking her to audition! Reynaldo Hahn composed the score, a strategic commission because Hahn had influential friends – potential patrons – whom Diaghilev needed.

Hahn did his best to avoid orientalist clichés, experimenting with chromaticism and modal writing. The score was not a success. Glazunov reportedly fell asleep during the piano play-through and Prince Lieven, a critic and historian of the Ballets Russes, described it as ‘sweet and insipid’. The ballet premiered at the Théâtre du Châtelet on May 13, 1912, but it flopped. Within weeks of the premiere, along came L’après-midi d’un faune and Daphnis et Chloé, after which Le Dieu bleu was all but forgotten.

You will find hardly any of this information in B Records’ scant booklet for this live recording (download only) by Les Frivolités Parisiennes, conducted by Dylan Corlay. There’s no synopsis, not even a track-listing, which really won’t do. I found myself imagining what Palazzetto Bru Zane could have done with it … and lo, in the media base on Bru Zane’s website is an excellent eight-page article (in French) by musicologist Christophe Mirambeau, who is interviewed (briefly) in the booklet here, which focuses more on the (fine) orchestra and the circumstances of the performance, which included an animated video.

Hahn’s music is not without interest and his score is decently played. The Prélude begins with a sinuous, Syrinx-like flute solo – composed a year before Syrinx! – and there is some unusual orchestration, from weighty orchestral forces to chamber-like ensembles. The ‘Danse de Yoghis’ for winds and percussion is striking, while a piano ripples in ‘Clair de lune’.

A curiosity, not best served by the meagre presentation.