Paul Paray’s various
recordings for Mercury have achieved
almost legendary status over the years,
and hearing this new issue in SACD format
it’s not difficult to understand why.
Auber and Suppé
were both composers who made their careers
in the theatre; yet both of them have
survived in repertory of the concert
hall thanks to the colourful and tuneful
overtures they wrote. Of Auber’s forty-seven
operas, thirty-eight are to libretti
by Eugène Scribe, who wrote for
most of the French and Italian composers
of the day. And the element of formula
that this efficiency implies transfers
to Auber’s music too; even his contemporaries
were known to complain of an ‘incorrigibly
chirpy manner’. But it is also worth
remembering that he had his admirers
too, Rossini and Wagner among them.
A similar sparkle and
lightweight charm is also found in the
music of Suppé, who wrote operettas
in Vienna and other centres during the
age of Johann Strauss. There is a formula
at play here, and it is rather better
known than that of Auber. Each Suppé
overture has an imposing or atmospheric
introduction leading to an allegro,
then a lyrical waltz-song and a final
gallop. And the melodic invention is
of a high order, so too the rhythmic
verve.
These overtures by
Auber and Suppé suit the Detroit
orchestra as they suit their French
conductor Paul Paray. The Mercury engineers
in 1959 (in each of the featured venues)
achieve extraordinarily vivid and immediate
results. Thus the performances have
real élan and spirit, with both
corporate and individual contributions
of a high virtuosity that we can recognize
as wholly in the spirit and style of
the pieces being performed. Of course
this means that the driving rhythms
of Suppé’s Light Cavalry have
a special frisson of excitement, while
at the opposite extreme the poetic opening
measures of The Beautiful Galatea
find the Detroit strings producing
a wonderfully luminous sound. If anything,
this passage is the highlight of the
whole disc.
The lightness of touch
in Auber’s little known but altogether
splendid Fra Diavolo overture
again relies upon the talents of the
Detroit strings. But the wind players
too bring distinction throughout this
remarkable disc, as does the high production
standard, including the detailed and
informative booklet notes.
Terry Barfoot
see also review
by Paul Serotsky
Detroit Symphony Orchestra/Paul Paray 
MERCURY
LIVING PRESENCE SACD 470 638-2 [65.44] 
