RECORDING OF THE MONTH
Florent SCHMITT (1870-1958)
Antoine et Cléopâtre, Suite No. 1, Op. 69a (1920) [22:29]
I. Antoine et Cleopatre [11:31]
2. Le Camp de Pompée [3:53]
3. La Bataille d'Actium [7:05]
Antoine et Cléopâtre, Suite No. 2, Op. 69b [23:41]
1. Nuit au palais de la Reine [6:54]
2. Orgie et danses [9:45]
3. Le tombeau de Cléopâtre [7:02]
Le Palais hanté, Op. 49 (1904) [13:33]
Buffalo Philharmonic/JoAnn Falletta
rec. 5 & 9 March 2015, Kleinhans Music Hall, Buffalo, New York,
USA
Reviewed as a 24/96 download from
eClassical.com
Pdf booklet included
NAXOS 8.573521 [59:43]
Ever since I first heard JoAnn Falletta in a terrific programme of
Respighi (review) I’ve made a point of seeking out her new recordings.
With the exception of a recent spell with the Ulster Orchestra she records
mostly with the Buffalo Philharmonic, where she’s been music director for
the past fifteen years. Her discography is quite eclectic, but this appears
to be her first foray into the music of Florent Schmitt. There’s one other
recording of these suites, with Jacques Mercier and the Lorraine National
Orchestra, albeit with a different coupling (Timpani 1C1133). Le Palais
hanté is included on a Chandos album with Yan Pascal Tortelier and the
São Paulo Symphony (review).
Antoine et Cléopâtre, subtitled Six épisodes symphoniques en
deux suites d’après le drame de Shakespeare, was intended as ballet
music for a new production of the play at the Paris Opéra in 1920. The first
glimpse of our protagonists is an enticing one, with subdued brass and
seductive harp figures; if one didn’t know the work’s original purpose one
might think it a superior piece of film music. It’s vaguely Debussian, with
snatches of something headier; Scriabin, perhaps. Falletta plays it straight
– no need for gilding of ay kind – and her Buffalonians respond with
wonderfully nuanced playing.
The well-blended brass make a splendid noise, especially at the start of
Le Camp de Pompée, and the muscular timps are perfectly
proportioned in this clear, sensibly balanced recording. What really
impresses, though, is the sheer musicality of both the performance
and the sound; this is suave, metropolitan music and that’s exactly how it’s
presented here. Even the more overtly filmic episodes – La Bataille
d'Actium for instance – are handled with a mix of genteel
excitement and unfailing good taste. Schmitt’s instrumental colours are
striking and the martial effects are well caught by producer/engineer Tim
Handley.
Indeed, the sinuous music that opens the second suite – Nuit au palais
de la Reine – confirms this as a recording of real quality, the likes
of which I’ve not heard from Naxos in ages. The woodwind playing is gorgeous
and Falletta brings out plenty of fine detail. Even the Orgie et
danses – the merest hint of Saint-Saëns’s Bacchanale, perhaps
– is handled with sensitivity and style. No excesses à la
Meyerbeer, just good, focused musicianship. Ditto the more tumultuous final
section, Le tombeau de Cléopâtre. Really, this lovely performance
does full justice to Schmitt’s finely wrought score.
Le Palais hanté, subtitled Étude symphonique pour Le Palais
hanté d’Edgar Poë, makes for a pleasing filler. I dismissed the piece
as ‘mildly diverting, nothing more’ when I reviewed Tortelier’s account.
It’s a mark of Falletta’s musical wizardry that it now seems rather more
than that. I suspect the combination of fine playing and first-rate
engineering is a bonus here. Ultimately, though, Falletta is the heroine of
the hour; on the basis of this fabulous new album I’d very much like to hear
her tackle more Schmitt, Psaume 47 especially; we badly need a new
recording of that masterpiece.
Quietly sensational Schmitt, superbly recorded; nothing short of a
revelation.
Dan Morgan
twitter.com/mahlerei
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