Historic French Orchestral Recordings
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: George Frideric Handel, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Maurice Ravel, Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Johann Strauss II, Claude Debussy, Richard Wagner, Carl Maria von Weber, Paul (Abraham) Dukas, Edouard(-Victoire-Antoine) Lalo, Camille Saint-Saëns, (Paul Marie Théodore) Vincent D'Indy, (Amedée-)Ernest Chausson, Robert Schumann, (Alexis-)Emmanuel Chabrier, Gabriel Fauré, (Louis-Etienne-)Ernest Reyer
Label: Série Contrepoint
Magazine Review Date: 11/1991
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 266
Mastering:
Mono
Acoustic
ADD
Catalogue Number: 665001
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| (Le) nozze di Figaro, '(The) Marriage of Figaro', Movement: Overture |
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
Paris Conservatoire Orchestra Philippe Gaubert, Conductor Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer |
| Scheherazade |
Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer
Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer Paris Conservatoire Orchestra Philippe Gaubert, Conductor |
| (Die) Meistersinger von Nürnberg, '(The) Masters, Movement: Prelude |
Richard Wagner, Composer
Paris Conservatoire Orchestra Philippe Gaubert, Conductor Richard Wagner, Composer |
| (L')Apprenti sorcier, '(The) Sorcerer's Apprentice |
Paul (Abraham) Dukas, Composer
Paris Conservatoire Orchestra Paul (Abraham) Dukas, Composer Philippe Gaubert, Conductor |
| (Le) Rouet d'Omphale |
Camille Saint-Saëns, Composer
Camille Saint-Saëns, Composer Paris Conservatoire Orchestra Philippe Gaubert, Conductor |
| Pelléas et Mélisande, Movement: Fileuse |
Gabriel Fauré, Composer
Gabriel Fauré, Composer Paris Conservatoire Orchestra Philippe Gaubert, Conductor |
| Nocturnes, Movement: Nuages |
Claude Debussy, Composer
Claude Debussy, Composer Paris Conservatoire Orchestra Philippe Gaubert, Conductor |
| Nocturnes, Movement: Fêtes |
Claude Debussy, Composer
Claude Debussy, Composer Paris Conservatoire Orchestra Philippe Gaubert, Conductor |
| (La) Péri, Movement: Poème dansé en un tableau |
Paul (Abraham) Dukas, Composer
Paris Conservatoire Orchestra Paul (Abraham) Dukas, Composer Philippe Gaubert, Conductor |
| (La) Valse |
Maurice Ravel, Composer
Maurice Ravel, Composer Paris Conservatoire Orchestra Philippe Gaubert, Conductor |
| Namouna, Movement: SUITE 1 |
Edouard(-Victoire-Antoine) Lalo, Composer
Edouard(-Victoire-Antoine) Lalo, Composer Paris Conservatoire Orchestra Piero Coppola, Conductor |
| Sigurd, Movement: Overture |
(Louis-Etienne-)Ernest Reyer, Composer
(Louis-Etienne-)Ernest Reyer, Composer Paris Conservatoire Orchestra Piero Coppola, Conductor |
| Joyeuse marche |
(Alexis-)Emmanuel Chabrier, Composer
(Alexis-)Emmanuel Chabrier, Composer Paris Conservatoire Orchestra Piero Coppola, Conductor |
| Symphony |
(Amedée-)Ernest Chausson, Composer
(Amedée-)Ernest Chausson, Composer Paris Conservatoire Orchestra Piero Coppola, Conductor |
| Istar |
(Paul Marie Théodore) Vincent D'Indy, Composer
(Paul Marie Théodore) Vincent D'Indy, Composer Paris Conservatoire Orchestra Piero Coppola, Conductor |
| (La) Mer |
Claude Debussy, Composer
Claude Debussy, Composer Paris Conservatoire Orchestra Piero Coppola, Conductor |
| Nocturnes |
Claude Debussy, Composer
Claude Debussy, Composer Paris Conservatoire Orchestra Piero Coppola, Conductor |
| (Le) Martyre de Saint Sébastien, Movement: Prélude |
Claude Debussy, Composer
Claude Debussy, Composer Paris Conservatoire Orchestra Piero Coppola, Conductor |
| Daphnis et Chloé Suites, Movement: Suite No. 1 |
Maurice Ravel, Composer
Maurice Ravel, Composer Paris Conservatoire Orchestra Piero Coppola, Conductor |
| Ma Mère l'oye, 'Mother Goose', Movement: Pavane de la Belle au bois dormant |
Maurice Ravel, Composer
Maurice Ravel, Composer Paris Conservatoire Orchestra Piero Coppola, Conductor |
| Ma Mère l'oye, 'Mother Goose', Movement: Les entretiens de la belle et la bête |
Maurice Ravel, Composer
Maurice Ravel, Composer Paris Conservatoire Orchestra Piero Coppola, Conductor |
| Ma Mère l'oye, 'Mother Goose', Movement: Petit Poucet |
Maurice Ravel, Composer
Maurice Ravel, Composer Paris Conservatoire Orchestra Piero Coppola, Conductor |
| Ma Mère l'oye, 'Mother Goose', Movement: Laideronette, Impératrice des Pagodes |
Maurice Ravel, Composer
Maurice Ravel, Composer Paris Conservatoire Orchestra Piero Coppola, Conductor |
| Ma Mère l'oye, 'Mother Goose', Movement: Apothèose: Le Jardin féerique |
Maurice Ravel, Composer
Maurice Ravel, Composer Paris Conservatoire Orchestra Piero Coppola, Conductor |
| (Le) Tombeau de Couperin |
Maurice Ravel, Composer
Maurice Ravel, Composer Paris Conservatoire Orchestra Piero Coppola, Conductor |
| Children's Corner |
Claude Debussy, Composer
Claude Debussy, Composer Paris Conservatoire Orchestra Piero Coppola, Conductor |
| (3) Estampes, Movement: Soirée dans Grenade |
Claude Debussy, Composer
Claude Debussy, Composer Paris Conservatoire Orchestra Piero Coppola, Conductor |
| (6) Images, Movement: Cloches à travers les feuilles |
Claude Debussy, Composer
Claude Debussy, Composer Paris Conservatoire Orchestra Piero Coppola, Conductor |
| (Die) Zauberflöte, '(The) Magic Flute', Movement: ~ |
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
Bruno Walter, Conductor Paris Conservatoire Orchestra Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer |
| Symphony No. 4 |
Robert Schumann, Composer
Bruno Walter, Conductor Paris Conservatoire Orchestra Robert Schumann, Composer |
| (12) Concerti grossi, Movement: No. 12 in B minor, HWV330 |
George Frideric Handel, Composer
Bruno Walter, Conductor George Frideric Handel, Composer Paris Conservatoire Orchestra |
| (Der) Freischütz, Movement: Overture |
Carl Maria von Weber, Composer
Bruno Walter, Conductor Carl Maria von Weber, Composer Paris Conservatoire Orchestra |
| (Die) Fledermaus, '(The) Bat', Movement: Overture |
Johann Strauss II, Composer
Bruno Walter, Conductor Johann Strauss II, Composer Paris Conservatoire Orchestra |
Author: Robert Layton
Collectors who remember the Paris Conservatoire Orchestra from its records of the late 1950s and early 1960s will have little idea of the orchestra's quality in its heyday. This anthology of six CDs comprising an average of eight 78s per disc shows why Bruno Walter could write of it with such enthusiasm and admiration. The first two CDs are mainly devoted to some of the 78s the orchestra made with Philippe Gaubert, the next three to Piero Coppola and the last to Bruno Walter. The latter's celebrated 1939 recording of the Symphonie fantastique is omitted but will surely turn up on CD before long. The orchestra with its romantic old-world title (Orchestre de la Societe des Concerts du Conservatoire de Paris), ''une illustre vieille dame de 139 ans'' (to quote Herve Desarbre), was in 1967 absorbed into the new Orchestre de Paris.
The earliest 1918 records under Andre Messager, of the Prelude to Saint-Saens's oratorio, Le deluge and two movements from Delibes's Sylvia, sound pretty primitive underneath their heavy surfaces and are of documentary rather than musical interest. But, as readers who have kept their 78s will know, recordings made ten years later sound very good indeed. Philippe Gaubert (1879-1941), now dropped, I see, from the latest edition of Blom's unfailingly reliableEveryman's Dictionary, apart from being a celebrated flautist and prolific composer, had an enviable list of premieres to his credit as a conductor. In his days at the Paris Opera he mounted for the first time at that house, Dukas's Ariane et Barbe-bleu (which, incidentally, he brought to Covent Garden in 1937), Faure's Penelope, Ravel's L'enfant et les sortileges, Enescu's Oedipe and so on.
His recording of Rimsky-Korsakov's Sheherazade, made in 1928-9, sounds surprisingly well, though the performance is not one to which I think I would often return. The playing is good but in the first movement Gaubert is determined to eschew exaggeration with the result that it is a bit sedate, almost 'laid back'. Only in the finale does he take fire. I recall hisL'apprenti sorcier (recorded in 1936) and opted in my youth for the earlier Toscanini recording, which did not spill over to a third side! Alas, room is not found here for the fill-up, a beautiful account (as I remember it) of the ''Nocturne'' from Faure's Shylock music. However, even with such a generous anthology there are bound to be omissions.
Some time in the early 1950s I picked up the last of the three 78s of Dukas's La peri—which, incidentally, Gaubert conducted for the first time at the Paris Opera—for sixpence (old pence) and only managed to find a complete set in the 1970s. I can testify that this transfer does splendid justice to the originals, though the 78s (on my Quad system) have a slightly richer bass. There is plenty of atmosphere, even if Gaubert did not include the imposing ''Fanfare'' (nor for that matter does the Durand score) which had to wait for Ansermet's mono LP of the 1950s (3/55—nla). That, of course, revealed more orchestral detail, although the Suisse Romande was no match for the pre-war Paris Conservatoire in any department.
What will come as a revelation to listeners who have not encountered them before are Coppola's readings of Debussy. Piero Coppola was more or less 'house conductor' for French HMV, something of an equivalent of our Sir Landon Ronald, though he was the more prolific recording artist. The performances of La mer, the Nocturnes and Le martyre de St Sebastien on the fourth CD are not only totally idiomatic but show the Paris orchestra as the equal of any in Europe—particularly in La mer. The set offers a valuable opportunity to note the consistency in approach and pacing between Gaubert (1928) and Coppola (1938), though there is greater subtlety of nuance in the Coppola items, not entirely due to the more modern recording. His La mer is very exciting indeed, not quite as electrifying as the 1935 Toscanini account with the BBC Symphony Orchestra (EMI, 3/90) but not very far off—and certainly better recorded.
I possess, but have not recently re-played, the 78s of the Nocturnes but can testify that they now sound better than ever: imaginatively and sensitively phrased, and full of atmosphere—and very well recorded. And once you have heard the sense of mystery Coppola distilled from the four fragments from Le martyre, you will remain relatively unmoved by Barenboim's DG recording of the 1970s ((CD) 435 069-2GGA, 11/91). Only Cantelli's 1954 Philharmonia version on HMV (3/55—nla) rates on the Coppola scale. I would like to have seen his Ravel Valses nobles et sentimentales and Alborada del gracioso, which were so often broadcast in my youth, included; nevertheless, there are first-class performances of theMa mere l'oye and Le tombeau de Couperin, and noble readings of the Chausson Symphony and d'Indy's Istar. The transfers are excellent, although I am mystified by what sounds like a rumbling valve towards the end of ''La passion'' in Le martyre—perhaps this was on the originals.
Bruno Walter made his home in Paris after the Anschluss in 1938 and almost immediately was given a French passport. His CD includes the Schumann Fourth Symphony of 1928 (which he re-recorded a little less briskly with the LSO for HMV in the 1930s) and three 1938 recordings: the overtures to Der Freischutz and Die Fledermaus and his noble Handel B minor Concerto grosso, Op. 6 No. 12, to which I have often returned over the years as an innoculation against a surfeit of period-instrument accounts. I have hugely enjoyed browsing through this six-CD box-set over the past few weeks: it brings alive those interpreters who were associated with early performances of French music during a period when Paris was one of the great musical centres of the world—as, indeed, it is again fast becoming.'
The earliest 1918 records under Andre Messager, of the Prelude to Saint-Saens's oratorio, Le deluge and two movements from Delibes's Sylvia, sound pretty primitive underneath their heavy surfaces and are of documentary rather than musical interest. But, as readers who have kept their 78s will know, recordings made ten years later sound very good indeed. Philippe Gaubert (1879-1941), now dropped, I see, from the latest edition of Blom's unfailingly reliable
His recording of Rimsky-Korsakov's Sheherazade, made in 1928-9, sounds surprisingly well, though the performance is not one to which I think I would often return. The playing is good but in the first movement Gaubert is determined to eschew exaggeration with the result that it is a bit sedate, almost 'laid back'. Only in the finale does he take fire. I recall his
Some time in the early 1950s I picked up the last of the three 78s of Dukas's La peri—which, incidentally, Gaubert conducted for the first time at the Paris Opera—for sixpence (old pence) and only managed to find a complete set in the 1970s. I can testify that this transfer does splendid justice to the originals, though the 78s (on my Quad system) have a slightly richer bass. There is plenty of atmosphere, even if Gaubert did not include the imposing ''Fanfare'' (nor for that matter does the Durand score) which had to wait for Ansermet's mono LP of the 1950s (3/55—nla). That, of course, revealed more orchestral detail, although the Suisse Romande was no match for the pre-war Paris Conservatoire in any department.
What will come as a revelation to listeners who have not encountered them before are Coppola's readings of Debussy. Piero Coppola was more or less 'house conductor' for French HMV, something of an equivalent of our Sir Landon Ronald, though he was the more prolific recording artist. The performances of La mer, the Nocturnes and Le martyre de St Sebastien on the fourth CD are not only totally idiomatic but show the Paris orchestra as the equal of any in Europe—particularly in La mer. The set offers a valuable opportunity to note the consistency in approach and pacing between Gaubert (1928) and Coppola (1938), though there is greater subtlety of nuance in the Coppola items, not entirely due to the more modern recording. His La mer is very exciting indeed, not quite as electrifying as the 1935 Toscanini account with the BBC Symphony Orchestra (EMI, 3/90) but not very far off—and certainly better recorded.
I possess, but have not recently re-played, the 78s of the Nocturnes but can testify that they now sound better than ever: imaginatively and sensitively phrased, and full of atmosphere—and very well recorded. And once you have heard the sense of mystery Coppola distilled from the four fragments from Le martyre, you will remain relatively unmoved by Barenboim's DG recording of the 1970s ((CD) 435 069-2GGA, 11/91). Only Cantelli's 1954 Philharmonia version on HMV (3/55—nla) rates on the Coppola scale. I would like to have seen his Ravel Valses nobles et sentimentales and Alborada del gracioso, which were so often broadcast in my youth, included; nevertheless, there are first-class performances of the
Bruno Walter made his home in Paris after the Anschluss in 1938 and almost immediately was given a French passport. His CD includes the Schumann Fourth Symphony of 1928 (which he re-recorded a little less briskly with the LSO for HMV in the 1930s) and three 1938 recordings: the overtures to Der Freischutz and Die Fledermaus and his noble Handel B minor Concerto grosso, Op. 6 No. 12, to which I have often returned over the years as an innoculation against a surfeit of period-instrument accounts. I have hugely enjoyed browsing through this six-CD box-set over the past few weeks: it brings alive those interpreters who were associated with early performances of French music during a period when Paris was one of the great musical centres of the world—as, indeed, it is again fast becoming.'
Historic French Orchestral Recordings
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