What a shame that most of Verdi’s ballet music – primarily
written to satisfy Parisian audiences – is rarely heard these
days, especially when it’s so irresistibly tuneful. Indeed,
as José Serebrier points out in his excellent liner-notes these
‘bolt-ons’ have occasionally been pressed into service elsewhere,
most notably in Jerome Robbins’ 1979 ballet The Four Seasons.
Listening to this effervescent set it’s not difficult to see
why; Verdi was a melodist supreme, an instinctive man of the
theatre, and that shines through in this recording. It’s also
heartening to hear the Bournemouth band – which enjoyed something
of a renaissance under Marin Alsop – in such electric form.
The thrustful, swaggering Ballabile from the Act III
of Otello – penned for the Paris premiere in 1894 –
makes a splendid introduction to the set. Serebrier finds a
thrilling momentum and ceremonial whirl here, the music capped
by a hefty, crowd-pleasing bass-drum thwack. What a pleasure
it is to discover that Naxos have produced a recording of untrammelled
weight and range. The same musical and aural delights are apparent
in the ballet music from Macbeth, revised for Paris
in 1865. This may be slightly less memorable than that for Otello,
but there’s an unmistakable undertow here, the music firmly
rooted in the drama that surrounds it; indeed, those regal and
impassioned perorations are simply glorious.
Jérusalem, which began life in 1843 as I Lombardi,
was retitled and revised for Paris four years later. It’s disconcerting
to discover that some of this ballet music is very similar to
that of the partying Parisians in La Traviata (1853).
That’s especially so in the deftly articulated – and convivial
– Pas de quatre and the sparkling Pas de deux,
whose frothiness hardly seems appropriate to a sober tale centred
on the Crusades. Nevertheless, Verdi’s score is delivered with
energy and polish, the melting, harp-led tunes of the Pas
de solo most beautifully written and played.
The first CD ends with a substantial ballet from the original
– French – version of Don Carlo. This too is unremittingly
dramatic and, at times, most exquisitely scored. Serebrier and
his band invest the music with a limpid beauty and rhythmic
pliancy that just underscores Verdi’s gift for simple –yet heartfelt
– tunes. There’s heaving passion and bright majesty as well,
and the Naxos engineers have done a magnificent job capturing
the noble fanfares and dynamically impressive tuttis. Indeed,
I’d say this is the most spectacular Naxos sound I’ve heard
in a long time; bravos all round.
The ballet music from Aida is unusual in that it’s
an integral part of the action and not just a fashionable accessory.
Predictably it gets a rousing performance on this CD, the sinuous
arabesques of the Act I ballet wonderfully atmospheric. Verdi
had to bow to convention once more with Il trovatore,
revised and retitled Le trouvère for Paris in 1856.
The flashing gypsy rhythms are very well managed, and even if
there’s a hint of rumty-tumtiness at times there’s no mistaking
the hot blood that courses through the veins. The real delight
is listening to the orchestra play as if their natural home
were a theatre pit; in fact, it’s hard to imagine these scores
more idiomatically played.
One might be forgiven for thinking that two hours of this fare
would be tedious, but when the level of invention and the standard
of musicianship are this high the time just flies by. Part of
the secret is that Serebrier creates and sustains a powerful
sense of theatre, the wild Galop (tr. 10) crying out
for applause and an encore; all I can say is, thank heavens
for the repeat button. After the fizz and fun of this finale
the integral ballet music from Les vêpres siciliennes
– written for Paris in 1855 – has a clear structure and strong
narrative. A depiction of the four seasons, the first part –
L’inverno – has the assurance and sweep of a piece
by Glazunov or Tchaikovsky. As for La primavera it’s
blessed with a spontaneity and lift – a natural danceability
– that’s hard to resist, while L’estate is most elegantly
phrased; the changeability of autumn is evoked in music of felicity
and strength.
There’s not a duff note or dull moment in the entire set, Verdi’s
prodigious talents matched at every turn by those of Serebrier
and his first-rate players. This is fresh, spontaneous music-making,
whose dramatic peaks – while emphatic – are never coarse or
overdriven. The Naxos engineers deserve plenty of praise too,
as the fine sound adds immeasurably to one’s enjoyment of these
vital scores.
Two hours of pure, unadulterated pleasure.
Dan Morgan
http://twitter.com/mahlerei
See also review by Paul
Corfield Godfrey
Complete contents
CD 1
Otello (1887; Paris premiere 1894)
Act III Scene 7: Ballabile [5:37]
Macbeth (excerpts) (1847; French version 1865)
Act III Scene 1: Ballo I [2:27]
Act III Scene 1: Ballo II [4:38]
Act III Scene 1: Ballo III [3:11]
Jerusalem (excerpts) (1843; Paris revision 1847)
Act III Scene 1: Pas de quatre [7:40]
Act III Scene 1: Pas de deux [5:33]
Act III Scene 1: Pas de solo [5:49]
Act III Scene 1: Pas d'ensemble [2:34]
Don Carlos (Paris, 1886)
Act III Scene 2: Ballo della regina, ‘La Peregrina’ [16:41]
CD 2
Aida (excerpts) (1871)
Act I Scene 2: Dance No. 3: Danza sacra delle sacerdotesse [2:30]
Act II Scene 1: Dance No. 4: Danza dei piccoli schiavi mori
[1:38]
Act II Scene 2: Dance No. 5: Ballabile [4:44]
Il trovatore (excerpts) (1853; Paris version 1856)
Act III Scene 1: Pas des Bohémiens [1:54]
Act III Scene 1: Gitanilla [2:30]
Act III Scene 1: Ensemble [1:34]
Act III Scene 2: Sevillana [4:05]
Act III Scene 2: Echo du soldat [2:58]
Act III Scene 2: La Bohémienne [7:20]
Act III Scene 2: Galop [2:31]
Les vêpres siciliennes (excerpts) (1855)
Act III Scene 2: Le quattro stagioni: L'inverno [6:36]
Act III Scene 2: Le quattro stagioni: La primavera [7:51]
Act III Scene 2: Le quattro stagioni: L'estate [5:41]
Act III Scene 2: Le quattro stagioni: L'autunno [9:22]
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra/José Serebrier