Paul Dukas is famous
for having burnt vast quantities of
the music he wrote, due to his overly
self-critical and perfectionist nature.
He was born in Paris to musical parents,
and started composing at an early age.
He studied at the Conservatoire where
he developed strong literary and musical
interests, and where he later returned
as a Professor. As well as composing
and teaching, Dukas was highly respected
as an outstanding editor and author
on music.
This disc presents
three of his best known works, two of
them fairly early compositions (the
Symphony and The Sorcerer’s Apprentice),
while the piece that opens the disc,
La Peri, was the last work of
his to be published. A single-movement
"poème dansé",
it was commissioned by the Russian ballerina
Natalia Trouhanova and tells the story
of a young man, Iskender, who seeks
a flower of immortality, the lotus.
He eventually finds one, but it is in
the possession of a sleeping peri -
peris being fay people in Persian mythology
– they descended from fallen angels
and are forced to do penance here before
they can return to heaven. He takes
the flower from the peri, but falls
in love with her and can’t bring himself
to leave. When she awakes she dances
for him, until he is willing to do anything
for a kiss. She demands the flowers
back, but then fades into the sunset,
leaving him with nothing. The piece
ends with his growing realisation that
his own death will not be long in the
coming. It is a wonderfully impressionistic
piece, and well-played by the Cincinnati
Symphony under Jesus Lopez-Cobos in
a vibrant, lively and sensitive performance.
This is followed by
Dukas’s most famous work – a work that,
rather like Holst’s Planets,
was somewhat to his detriment, as its
popularity meant that other, more important
works, were overshadowed. This, of course,
was exacerbated by the fact that The
Sorcerer’s Apprentice was originally
written as something of a joke. The
plot – too well-known to be repeated
here - comes from an ancient tale of
which Goethe wrote a ballad. This is
a good performance - well paced, with
pleasingly-controlled climaxes, wonderfully
growly bassoons and a good sense of
fun, although the ending could have
slightly more punch and control.
Dukas started work
on his Symphony in C in 1895 and it
was performed to tremendous acclaim
in Paris two years later. It has three
movements, all of which are classical
in form, opening with a bold Allegro
non troppo vivace, ma con fuoco,
moving on to an impressionistically
rhapsodic and romantic Andante Espressivo,
while a dynamic Allegro Spiritoso
concludes the work and the disc. The
playing throughout is colourful and
expressive.
Although the disc is
not particularly well presented – the
notes are good enough but the graphics
rather poor and there are no notes on
the orchestra or conductor, this is
nonetheless a nice selection of works
by a composer often overlooked.
Em Marshall
Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra/Jesus Lopez-Cobos
