Cherubini Overtures
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Luigi (Carlo Zanobi Salvadore Maria) Cherubini
Label: EMI
Magazine Review Date: 9/1992
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 67
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 754438-2
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Elisa |
Luigi (Carlo Zanobi Salvadore Maria) Cherubini, Composer
Luigi (Carlo Zanobi Salvadore Maria) Cherubini, Composer |
| Médée, Movement: ~ |
Luigi (Carlo Zanobi Salvadore Maria) Cherubini, Composer
Academy of St Martin in the Fields Luigi (Carlo Zanobi Salvadore Maria) Cherubini, Composer Neville Marriner, Conductor |
| (L') Hôtellerie portugaise |
Luigi (Carlo Zanobi Salvadore Maria) Cherubini, Composer
Academy of St Martin in the Fields Luigi (Carlo Zanobi Salvadore Maria) Cherubini, Composer Neville Marriner, Conductor |
| (Les) Deux journées, Movement: Overture |
Luigi (Carlo Zanobi Salvadore Maria) Cherubini, Composer
Academy of St Martin in the Fields Luigi (Carlo Zanobi Salvadore Maria) Cherubini, Composer Neville Marriner, Conductor |
| Anacréon |
Luigi (Carlo Zanobi Salvadore Maria) Cherubini, Composer
Luigi (Carlo Zanobi Salvadore Maria) Cherubini, Composer |
| Faniska |
Luigi (Carlo Zanobi Salvadore Maria) Cherubini, Composer
Luigi (Carlo Zanobi Salvadore Maria) Cherubini, Composer |
| (Les) Abencérages, Movement: Overture |
Luigi (Carlo Zanobi Salvadore Maria) Cherubini, Composer
Academy of St Martin in the Fields Luigi (Carlo Zanobi Salvadore Maria) Cherubini, Composer Neville Marriner, Conductor |
| Concert Overture |
Luigi (Carlo Zanobi Salvadore Maria) Cherubini, Composer
Academy of St Martin in the Fields Luigi (Carlo Zanobi Salvadore Maria) Cherubini, Composer Neville Marriner, Conductor |
Author: John Warrack
Cherubini's overtures were once quite popular concert items, as is indicated by an old two-volume Breitkopf & Hartel miniature score set of nine of them. They still occasionally surface individually on records, rather less often in concert. And the opera house, alas, hardly knows anything now by this master of opera-comique. So it was a good idea for Sir Neville Marriner to put together the present anthology, which gives an impressive idea of Cherubini's strengths even if we can also readily perceive some of the weaknesses.
The latter include a certain caution in developing what are time and again bold, arresting ideas, dramatically presented. Berlioz had no occasion to be so scornful: he gained much from Cherubini, though his own fascinating irregularity—of harmony, but also of metre and rhythm—belongs to a later world than that of Cherubini's elegantly balanced lines. But the composer of Les troyens ought to have admired the graceful classicism of Anacreon, with its light, airy Greek atmosphere, tinged with a Watteau-like eroticism, its storm, and its happy ending as (in the opera) Eros, or Cupid, himself is revealed as the mysterious visitor. Eliza is another excellent overture, making much use of a charming pastoral theme from later in the opera, and agreeably characterizing the Swiss mountain setting (Berlioz, again, should have been more respectful: he took the calling and answering wind instruments in his ''Scene aux champs'' from the work). Les abencerages is a lively, cleverly composed piece, very imaginatively orchestrated, as is the nimble overture toL'hotellerie portugaise, a one-act comedy of amorous mistakes and intrigues. It is a pity to dislodge Lodoiska, the obvious absentee from this set, in favour of the rather grandiose Concert Overture written for the London Philharmonic Society in 1815; but Faniska, also a Rescue Opera, provides another energetic and colourful overture. Medee and Les deux journees are likely to be a little more familiar, but are very welcome.
The players respond intelligently to Marriner, shaping the melodies carefully and charging with a will into Cherubini's powerful tuttis. If there is sometimes a suggestion that a more intoxicating rhythmic swerve would make even more of the music, at least Cherubini would have defended the straight and narrow virtues of sobriety and control. The recording is lucid, sensitive to the variety and colour of Cherubini's orchestration. It was a nice idea to put Nattier's winsome Muse of Comedy on the cover.'
The latter include a certain caution in developing what are time and again bold, arresting ideas, dramatically presented. Berlioz had no occasion to be so scornful: he gained much from Cherubini, though his own fascinating irregularity—of harmony, but also of metre and rhythm—belongs to a later world than that of Cherubini's elegantly balanced lines. But the composer of Les troyens ought to have admired the graceful classicism of Anacreon, with its light, airy Greek atmosphere, tinged with a Watteau-like eroticism, its storm, and its happy ending as (in the opera) Eros, or Cupid, himself is revealed as the mysterious visitor. Eliza is another excellent overture, making much use of a charming pastoral theme from later in the opera, and agreeably characterizing the Swiss mountain setting (Berlioz, again, should have been more respectful: he took the calling and answering wind instruments in his ''Scene aux champs'' from the work). Les abencerages is a lively, cleverly composed piece, very imaginatively orchestrated, as is the nimble overture to
The players respond intelligently to Marriner, shaping the melodies carefully and charging with a will into Cherubini's powerful tuttis. If there is sometimes a suggestion that a more intoxicating rhythmic swerve would make even more of the music, at least Cherubini would have defended the straight and narrow virtues of sobriety and control. The recording is lucid, sensitive to the variety and colour of Cherubini's orchestration. It was a nice idea to put Nattier's winsome Muse of Comedy on the cover.'
Cherubini Overtures
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