This is the fourth disc in the Naxos/Denève/RSNO survey
of the music of Albert Roussel (see reviews of
Vol.
1,
Vol.
2 &
Vol.
3). Although all four symphonies
are now safely and successfully released
the
absence
from this
collection of both
Evocation and more significantly
Le
Festin de l'araignée (The Spider’s Banquet) would
suggest to me that we are in line for at least one more Roussel
disc from this winning combination. A glance at the recording
dates alone will show that this is very much a bringing together
of recordings from numerous sessions over a period of three years
dating back to 2006. But this should not imply for an instant
any kind of rag-bag approach. In fact quite the reverse, it is
a tribute to both the Naxos programmers and in particular to
Denève’s artistic consistency that this disc presents
such a coherent picture of Roussel’s oeuvre.
I have written elsewhere that I cannot think of any other composer
whose symphonies mark so clearly his linear development from
Impressionistic rapture to seriously cyclic Scola Cantorum to
strict Neo-Classicism. Because the
Symphony No.3 represents
the point on the journey where the balance between the neo-classical
and lush impressionism is most finely achieved that symphony
has always been the most popular of the Roussel canon. By the
time he reached
Symphony No.4 Roussel was looking to pare
his formal and musical palette to a rigorous minimum. On a simplistic
level this can be seen in the duration of his symphonies which
run from 35 verdant minutes for his No.1 through a lingering
43 minutes of No.2 to the compact 25 minutes of No.3 arriving
at a terse 23 minutes for No.4.
None of the works presented here are ‘rare’ and all
are likely to be already present in the collections of admirers
of Roussel’s work. Certainly there is stiff competition
from recordings old and new. However, quite aside from the bargain
price benefit of this Naxos disc there are many reasons for seriously
considering these performances. Throughout this series I have
been particularly impressed with the way the orchestra has moulded
its sound to suit any given aspect of Roussel’s compositional
world. Likewise, engineer/producer Tim Handley has provided an
ideal recorded environment which helps to emphasise the style
of the work in question - this is a beautifully engineered disc.
Given that this disc focuses on the later, more strictly neo-classical
works it should be no surprise that the RSNO play with clean-limbed
athletic objectivity. I keep coming back to a mind’s-eye
image of those black and white films of great crowds of people
engaged in mass calisthenics! It is hugely impressive in a way
that engages the head rather than the heart. But clearly that
was exactly what Roussel had in mind. The sound-world he creates
has moved far distant from the sensuous delights of his extraordinary
opera/ballet
Padmâvatî - all the more remarkable
when one realizes this stylistic change occurred in little more
than a decade from the 1923 premiere of the opera to the 1934
composition of the last symphony. Not that the symphony is without
moments of considerable beauty; the
Largo introduction
to the first movement includes stunning woodwind solos over lamenting
strings; I’m thinking in particular of the brief oboe solo
at 1:50 into track 1. Denève has a real knack for moulding
phrases and allowing them to ebb and flow without becoming becalmed.
When the angular
Allegro con brio of the first movement
bursts in the contrast with what has come before has all the
greater impact. Throughout these later works Roussel seems to
prefer - certainly in the quicker movements - melodic outlines
that are jagged and widely spaced. It is as if he is very deliberating
rejecting any kind of lyrical flowing line that step-wise melodies
would allow or imply. Bluntly put this is considerably harder
to play too but the performance of the RSNO is never less than
first rate - the strings in particular dispatching their parts
with an impressive ease. Generally I would categorise Denève’s
approach to late Roussel as being lean and muscular. Examples
abound in all of the works presented here but it strikes me that
I have never heard Roussel’s brass writing presented with
such incisive flashing power as here. Again, the players have
adapted the tone they produce superbly - this is a tight brazen
edgy sound-world that I am sure is absolutely right - and very
exciting to boot. There is an equally valid approach which emphasises
a lighter more nonchalant style - I’m thinking here of
some of the older French sourced recordings from
Jean
Martinon. On balance I personally prefer the Denève
vision as I think it chimes in more with other contemporary music
of the 1930s with motor rhythms and a certain ‘dehumanising’ mechanistic
style if at the expense of some Gallic wit.
Interesting too that
Roussel prefers to use diminutives in many of the titles for
his later works. Hence we have here a
Petite Suite, a
Sinfonietta,
and even a concerto for
Petit Orchestre. Again this all
seems to stem from the same chaste aesthetic that seeks to reject
excess
. Roussel is not a master orchestrator in the way
that the term is applied to compatriots like Ravel or Debussy.
He has a preference for blocks of timbre with a greater use of
contrapuntal writing than either. Curiously, I have always found
his use of percussion to be disappointingly conventional - perhaps
again this was a rejection of anything too obviously flamboyant.
Part of this rejection might explain the move away from the larger
instrumental groups used in the symphonies and ballets to the
less diverse, quasi-chamber instrumentations of his later works;
the
Sinfonietta here is for strings alone. Sticking out
rather sore-thumb-like in the midst of this rejection of the
sensuous is the second work on this disc; the
Rapsodie flamande
Op.56. As the title implies it is a compilation of Flemish
folk tunes very much put together in the style of the nationalistic
rhapsodies beloved of composers several decades earlier than
its 1936 composition. The liner-notes make no reference to its
origin but I cannot believe it can have been produced for anything
else than a commission that for some reason could not be refused.
It is by far the least interesting work here and although played
to the absolute hilt - this is easily the most convincing performance
I have heard of this piece - it smacks of duty rather than inspiration.
The remaining three pieces are possibly Roussel’s most
perfectly achieved neo-classical works. Each is in a three movement
fast-slow-fast form. The longest just breaks the thirteen minute
barrier. Again Denève underlines the objectivity of the
music. That being said the
Petite suite opens with an
Aubade [track
6]
which is as buoyant and good-humoured as anything Roussel ever
wrote. No gentle sunrise this, more an early morning run! Denève
allows the central movements of both the
Petite suite and
Concert
pour petit orchestre to unfold with beautifully controlled
playing. Again, I found myself spellbound by the woodwind generally
and the oboe especially. The disc is completed with the string
Sinfonietta. Again
Roussel opts for a strongly contrapuntal muscular approach. It
is similar in its sound world to Honegger’s
Symphony
No.2 although that work was written a good seven years or
so later. I like the fact that this piece has been placed last
on the disc - although not the latest opus number - its use of
limited tonal resources and the almost perfect formal balance
of 3x3 minute movements seems to represent the ideal fusion of
form and function for Roussel. Again the RSNO perform with easy
precision.
As I wrote before, there is stiff competition for all of these
works. Most recently I see a cycle from Christopher Eschenbach
with the Orchestre de Paris on
Ondine has
been well received but those three discs that cover the symphonies
have allowed for fewer couplings than this Naxos cycle although
the
Spider’s banquet is included. But for a cogently
performed, superbly engineered sequence with all of the Naxos
price benefits this is a bargain hard to resist. Along with the
first release which included the
Symphony No.3 and the
marvelous
Bacchus et Ariadne ballet I would suggest this
is an excellent introduction to Roussel’s very particular
compositional world.
Nick Barnard
Royal Scottish National Orchestra/Stéphane
Denève 
