Est 1923

Indy Orchestral Works

Record and Artist Details

Composer or Director: (Paul Marie Théodore) Vincent D'Indy

Label: MusiFrance

Media Format: CD or Download

Media Runtime: 54

Mastering:

DDD

Catalogue Number: 2292-45821-2

Tracks:

Composition Artist Credit
Symphonie sur un chant montagnard français (Paul Marie Théodore) Vincent D'Indy, Composer
(Paul Marie Théodore) Vincent D'Indy, Composer
Catherine Collard, Piano
French Radio Philharmonic Orchestra
Marek Janowski, Conductor
Jour d'été à la montagne (Paul Marie Théodore) Vincent D'Indy, Composer
(Paul Marie Théodore) Vincent D'Indy, Composer
French Radio Philharmonic Orchestra
Marek Janowski, Conductor
A disc which proves (perhaps unintentionally) how unfair it is that d'Indy should be known primarily for his Symphonie sur un chant montagnard francais (Symphonie cevenole). This is a CD premiere for the three-movement Symphony Jour d'ete a la montagne; a work that suggests deeper levels of nature communion than the Symphonie cevenole—''I have put my mountain dweller's heart and soul into it''. It is a symmetrical dawn to dusk piece but, unlike Strauss's Alpine Symphony, which it predates by a decade, it is not continuous (chronologically speaking, it dispenses with morning coffee and high tea). Delius is evoked more than Debussy in the central day-dream ''Apres-midi sous les pins'', with the harmonic miracles of Tristan never far away; and Berlioz in the distinctive scoring of the Gregorian chant (in four octaves) from the last movement. Nevertheless the work remains full of d'Indy's individual, imaginative touches.
Janowski's performance of Jour d'ete is a fine one, more confidently controlled than Pierre Dervaux's from the late 1970s (French HMV, 1/81, recently reissued on EMI), and more lucidly recorded. He could perhaps have lingered more lazily under the pines. But impatience, for me, mars this Symphonie cevenole: it starts well enough, then Janowski forges ahead with the second subject (3'05'') at crochet=126, not 96 as marked. More seriously, his brusque manner in the Assez modere central movement causes an audible unease amongst his players. The sound, from a Radio France studio, is a little short on space for the climaxes to fill, and the ambience does not feel altogether natural. D'Indy enthusiasts will want this Jour d'ete, but for the Symphonie cevenole, Dutoit's (Decca, coupled with the Franck Symphony) is the one to have.'

Indy Orchestral Works

Symphonie sur un chant montagnard français

Jour d'été à la montagne

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