Albert ROUSSEL (1869 - 1937)
Symphony No.4 in A major Op.53 (1934) [23:18]
Rapsodie flamande (1936) [9:58]
Petite suite (1929) [13:00]
Concerto pour petit orchestre Op.34 (1927) [13:12]
Sinfonietta Op.52 (1934) [9:40]
Royal Scottish National Orchestra/Stéphane Denève
rec. Henry Wood Hall, Glasgow, Scotland, 17-18 October 2006 (Rapsodie); 30
May - 1 June 2007 (Sinfonietta); 13-14 August 2008 (Symphony; Petite Suite);
City Halls, Glasgow, Scotland 20-21 October 2008 (Concert)
NAXOS 8.572135 [69:08]
This is the fourth disc in the Naxos/Denève/RSNO survey of the music
of Albert Roussel. 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