MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             

Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger


Support us financially by purchasing this from

Daniel-François-Esprit AUBER (1782-1871)
Overtures - Volume 2
Markéta Čepická (violin)
Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra/Dario Salvi
rec. 2019, The House of Music, Pardubice, Czech Republic
NAXOS 8.574006 [61:06]

I have always quite enjoyed this anecdote: Auber was born in a stagecoach on a journey in no-man’s land (somewhere between France and Germany, I think). His home was near Caen in Normandy but he was later inspired by the Italy of Donizetti. This internationalism can be heard in his music. Rossini’s crescendi are almost present in many pieces, French comedy and burlesque is there. You may detect a touch of Mendelssohn. Auber also came across to England with the wish to learn the language, and enjoyed the races at Ascot and Goodwood. I hear Arthur Sullivan in some of Auber’s melodies, thinking that his music to have been enjoyed in London in the 1860s and 1870s. We can also find him in Belgium in the 1820s. Auber would almost certainly have been a strong supporter of the EU.

I missed volume 1 of the Overtures but volume 2 is a good place to start, particularly as it includes Auber’s first ventures into opera, Julie, ou L’Erreur d’un moment, and Couvin, ou Jean de Chimay. These were first performed mostly by amateurs but Cherubini got wind of the young man’s talents and gave him advanced tuition at the Paris Conservatoire.

Auber, it seems, was as successful (and possibly as rich) as Andrew Lloyd-Webber. For instance, Firella had 118 performances, Le Concert á la cour received 246 airings. Lestoocq, a story concerning Peter the Great’s daughter Elizabeth, is incredibly considered much less successful, at a mere 93 performances. His most successful opera Fra Diavolo (not yet recorded in this series) was performed regularly between 1830 and 1911. Very little of this stuff is heard any more – how fashions change. We are, then, indebted to Naxos, the superb Czech Chamber Philharmonic orchestra and Dario Salvi who has made it his life’s work to dig out these forgotten gems of the archives.

In truth, many of these pieces are undemanding, even lightweight, but Auber has a real talent for melody. Not only are we given Overtures on this disc but also brief, trifling extracts from the operas, normally an entr’acte. The one from Lestocq is especially agreeable.

Rather oddly, the main work on this disc is a Violin concerto, probably written when Auber was about twenty-three. The first movement is very gentle and genteel, like a Mozart slow movement; the second is a very melancholy and lyrical aria, which might have worked vocally in an opera context. The woodwinds are used sparingly, the range of the violin is never fully explored and virtuosity is not important. It is not until the Haydnesque, peasant- dance finale in rondo form that the soloist has to stretch herself technically. Even so, this is charming music, and well worth reviving. Markéta Čepická never puts a foot wrong. The whole ensemble seem to be lovingly engaged in its presentation.

Not only are the performances crystal clear – wonderfully articulated and lovingly brought to life in what seems to be an ideal acoustic – but the CD booklet essay by Robert Ignatius Letellier gives excellent information on each piece and a brief resume of the opera plots. There is also a photo of the orchestra and a colour one of Dario Salvi standing in front of an imposing portrait but next to what appears to be flying handkerchief.

Gary Higginson


Contents
Le Concert à la cour, ou La Débutante (1824):
Overture [7:19]

Violin Concerto in D major (c.1805) [18:57]

Fiorella (1826):
Overture [8:33]
Entr’acte to Act III [1:02]

Julie, ou L’Erreur d’un moment (1805):
Overture [8:33]
Finale [1:53]

Lestocq, ou L’Intrigue et l’Amour (1834):
Entr’acte to Act III [1:31]

Léocadie (1824):
Overture [7:42]
Entr’acte Act II [1:05]
Entr’acte to Act III [1:22]

Couvin, ou Jean de Chimnay (1812):
Introduction to Act I [2:56]
Introduction to Act III [1:24]

La Fiancée (1829):
Entr’acte to Act III [2:01]



Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing