Auber: Le Philtre / Acocella, Kraków Philharmonic Orchestra
Naxos
Available as
CD
$29.99
$20.99
Jan 13, 2023
The two leading operatic composers of their time were Rossini and Auber, one now fêted, the other largely overlooked. In 1831 Auber and his long-standing librettist Eugène Scribe produced Le Philtre, which took the concept of petit opéra to the extreme, even outdoing Rossini’s Le Comte Ory in depicting a rural setting peopled not with Arcadian shepherds but with ordinary country folk. Auber’s Franco-Italian style can be heard in the work’s ensembles, while elsewhere the opera shimmers with rich arias, buffo elements and delightful cavatinas. Le Philtre was an unalloyed success receiving 243 performances and inspired Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore.
REVIEWS:
The sonorous lyrical tenor Patrick Kabongo as Guillaume achieves a great artistic achievement in every respect. His elegant phrasing, the tones set freely from above, his dramaturgically precise, word-creative ability: all this shows great class.
The Mexican baritone Emmanuel Franco as the dashing militarist Joli-Coeur and the Italian bass Eugenio Di Lieto as the cunning businessman with a weakness for the right medical diagnosis Fontanarose remain sonorous and full of humour, and take advantage of the abundant situational comedy they offer. All three male protagonists succeed in stylistically exemplary fashion in both the French and the Italian influences of the score, influenced by Rossini, with all the rondeaus, cavatinas, cabalettas, strophic airs and brilliant couplets.
-- Merker Online
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Auber: Le Philtre / Acocella, Kraków Philharmonic Orchestra
$29.99
$20.99
CD
Naxos
Jan 13, 2023
8660514-15
Auber: Overtures, Vol. 8
Naxos
Available as
CD
$19.99
Jun 27, 2025
Daniel-Franc�ois-Esprit Auber represents the essence of Romantic opera-comique with vivacious and elegant works that enjoyed huge popularity for decades. He collaborated with a fellow luminary, Ferdinand Herold, for Vend�me en Espagne, a work rich in Spanish dances and colour. With a vivid display of Auber's gift for melody and orchestration, the overture to La Fiancee proved so successful and popular that Liszt arranged it as a fantasia three times. L'Enfant prodigue contains his longest overture, a powerful statement reflecting the tragic aspects of this Biblical parable.
French Opera Overtures / Järvi, Estonian National Symphony
Chandos
Available as
CD
$21.99
$16.99
Jul 05, 2024
The nineteenth-century French opera overture was for many years looked down on by certain music critics (and musicians) - largely as the genre turned its back on the historical adherence to strict musical form (fugue, sonata form, etc.). Percy Scholes, in the 1955 Oxford Companion to Music, had the following to say: 'a cheap but not always ineffective type of opera overture is that of the pot-pourri or medley - little more than a string of tunes from the work to follow.' These overtures were incredibly popular in their time, and the revival of this repertoire is long overdue.
Daniel Auber composed more than fifty operas, some for the Paris Opera and some for the Opera Comique. His Grand Opera La Muette de Portici famously sparked the Belgian revolution in 1830, which led to the country's independence in 1839. Les Cloches de Corneville was by far the most successful of Planquette's twenty-four operas, receiving some 400 consecutive performances. Alexandre Lecocq's La Fille de Madame Angot was premiered in Brussels in 1872 and is set in post-revolutionary Paris. The Overture is followed here by numbers put together by Gordon Jacob, in his re-orchestration of material taken mainly from the opera, for Leonide Massine's ballet Mam'zelle Angot, which closely follows the action of the opera.
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French Opera Overtures / Järvi, Estonian National Symphony
$21.99
$16.99
CD
Chandos
Jul 05, 2024
CHAN 20318
Auber: Overtures, Vol. 6 / Salvi, Karlovy Vary Symphony
Naxos
Available as
CD
$19.99
$13.99
Apr 26, 2024
This sixth album in this series is rich in music that ranges across Auber’s creative periods where finesse of orchestral detail and piquant harmonies are met by verve and wit. It includes some of Auber's least well-known music, some in world premiere recordings, as well as scores that explore vivid dance themes. Previous volumes can be heard on 8.574335 (Vol. 5), 8.574143 (Vol. 4), 8.574007 (Vol. 3), 8.574006 (Vol. 2) and 8.574005 (Vol. 1).
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Auber: Overtures, Vol. 6 / Salvi, Karlovy Vary Symphony
Dario Salvi's acclaimed survey of overtures by Auber continues with Volume 7. The Janacek Philharmonic Ostrava who were the featured orchestra on Volume 5 (8.574335) return to the series in a volume that includes several world premiere recordings.
REVIEW:
Conductor Dario Salvi is the creative force behind these recordings. All his albums maintain a high standard of performance. And all benefit from innovative programming. The Janacek Philharmonic Ostrava is in fine form here. Under Salvi’s direction, they play with a lighthearted elegance fitting the fairy operas. And they can also deliver some dramatic thundering when necessary.
Including additional music from the operas has slowed Salvi’s traversal of the overtures. But these recordings are about the journey, not the destination. These ballets and incidental music show Auber’s genius. His orchestrations set the stage and tell the story — in music, not words. Another fine addition to this edition.
Daniel-Francois-Esprit Auber’s music radiates both his amiable personality and the Parisian elegance of his times. The huge success of his operas resulted in a popularity for these overtures that rivaled that of Rossini, who was an early influence. Auber’s brilliant and energetic style infuses tales of romance both rustic and aristocratic, with moods ranging from dramatic heroism to dashing ballroom dances- all portrayed with the signature charm that made him a standard bearer of musical stylishness and good taste. Auber’s opera La Sirene can be found on the Naxos label as well. This is the first volume of a project to record all the overtures to his 31 operas-comiques, seven operas, three drames lyriques and seven other stage works.
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REVIEW:
The present disc covers Auber's early period from 1813 to 1826, and, with the exception of La Neige, ou Nouvel Eginard, all are receiving their World Premiere Recording. So we open the disc with Le Macon from 1825, and by far his most successful of that era, remaining on French and German stages for the next hundred years. From one extreme to the other with Le Timide, ou Le Nouveau Seducteur that had just a handful of performances before descending into oblivion. As you go through the sixteen tracks you will find pleasing music played with a suitable elegance, the performances using the bouncy tempos requested in Auber’s metronome markings. That we have these performing scores, I gather we owe a debt of gratitude to the conductor, Dario Salvi, who also obtains neat performances from his Czech orchestra.
Daniel-Francois-Esprit Auber (1782-1871) was long considered as one of the most typically French and most successful opera composers of the 19th century. His overtures were once favourites of the light Classical repertoire. This opera francais, first performed on 3 May 1825, relates to the venerable tradition of the rescue opera, topical since the French Revolution. Both book and score were equally successful. The opera represents a decisive development in Aubers style, a turning away from imitation of Rossini to Boieldieu’s simplicity and thereby to a specifically French tradition. It was the first of Auber’s mature opera-comiques, an international success, characterized by an Italianate sparkle with French grace and lyricism. The work remained in the repertoire from 1825 to 1896 and was performed 525 times. By the 1850s it had been translated into German, Danish, Swedish, Polish, Czech and Hungarian. On German stages this opera remained one of Auber’s most popular works, given as late as 1950 in Vienna.
Auber: Le Maçon (Sung In German)
$16.99
CD
Orfeo
Nov 15, 2019
ORF-C985191
Auber: La Sirene / Reiland, Orchestre des Frivolites Parisiennes
Naxos
Available as
CD
$19.99
Apr 12, 2019
Auber earned international adulation in the late 1820s for his revolutionary grand opera ‘La Muette de Portici’ and by the time he composed ‘La Sirene,’ the success of which inspired potpourris of its melodies, he occupied a central place in French musical life. The mysterious siren of the title is part of a plot that abounds in fantastic comedy, love, betrayal, farce, and festivity in the lineage of Italian popular theatre. The German poet Heinrich Heine wrote that “La Sirene was received with resounding bravos… The author and the composer know how to amuse us agreeably, and even to enchant us, or to dazzle us by the luminous facets of their spirit.”
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REVIEW:
The performances on this premiere recording are modest but engaging and entertaining as well. David Reiland secures bright and breezy playing from his appropriately named Orchestre des Frivolités Parisiennes. Jeanne Crousaud doesn’t quite live up the idealised Siren of the title but sings with charm, as do the two tenors, Xavier Flabat and Jean-Noël Teyssier. The lower men’s voices sing characterfully, as do Les Métaboles, even if some of their contributions get a little lost in the rough-and-tumble.
– Gramophone
Auber: La Sirene / Reiland, Orchestre des Frivolites Parisiennes
From the mid-1820s onwards Auber’s career was filled with success. His opéras-comiques and grands operas won repeated acclaim for their myriad qualities of Parisian elegance. The fifth volume in this series features two of his Sicilian operas and both center on well-delineated female characters. Brimming with grace, charm and lyricism, the extensive ballet from Zerlineexemplifies why Auber’s music was so popular. Philippe Musard’s QuadrilleNo.2on themes from Zanetta shows the extent of Auber’s contemporary popularity and is a revealing cultural souvenir of the period.
The second volume in this series (Volume1is on 8.574005) continues to explore little-known examples of Auber’s elegant and refined operatic music. Julie was his first stage work, its fantasia-like beauty foreshadowing the operas, opéras-comiques and lyric dramas to come. Striking melodies and haunting episodes abound in these overtures and entr’actes, and there is restrained yet fragrant Iberian color in the overture to Léocadie. The Violin Concerto is lightly scored and gentle, with a tarantella-like finale full of folk vitality.
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REVIEW:
This disc concentrates on Auber's early career between 1805 and 1829, going back to his first opera, Julie, ou L’Erreur d’un moment, where the orchestral scoring could be just for an enlarged string quartet. At the other end of the spectrum, in Fiorella from 1826, he was in competition with Rossini and requires a much more fulsome orchestra. We then move into the world of serious opera in 1824 with Leocadie. The Violin Concerto poses no major problems for Marketa Cepicka, a ‘song-like’ quality in the first two movements concluded by a suitably frolicking dance finale. The playing of the Czech orchestra is first rate for the Scottish/Italian conductor, Dario Salvi, the musicologist who is unearthing these long forgotten scores.
Auber: Marco Spada / Hallberg, Obraztsova, Smirnova, Bogorad, Bolshoi Ballet
$29.99
$26.99
DVD
BelAir Classiques
Nov 18, 2014
BAC113
Auber: La Muette De Portici / Hermus, Anhaltische Philharmonie Dessau
CPO
Available as
CD
$36.99
Jul 30, 2013
AUBER La Muette de Portici • Antony Hermus, cond; Diego Torre (Masaniello); Oscar de la Torre (Alphonse); Angelina Ruzzafante (Elvire); Wiard Witholt (Pietro); Anhaltische PO & Op Ch • CPO 777694 (2 CDs: 135:09 & French only) Live: Dessau 5/24–26/2011
Hard for us to believe nowadays, but in its time Daniel-François-Esprit Auber’s opera La Muette de Portici (The Mute Girl of Portici) was to the Belgian fight for independence what Verdi’s Nabucco was to become a dozen years later for Italy—possibly even more so, since its Brussels premiere led directly to a public revolution on the very night the opera was given. The rebel leader tossed his red Jacobin cap into the air at the sight and sound of every appearance of the rebel Masaniello and his followers onstage; immediately after the performance, huge, unexpected mobs formed in the streets and marched into the office of the government newspaper Le National, smashing windows. All night long the victorious rebels loudly sang the passage from the opera declaring that nothing is more glorious than dying for one’s fatherland. Talk about a wildly successful premiere!
Very briefly, the plot concerns Alphonse, son of the Spanish Viceroy of Naples. He is in love with the mute girl Fenella, sister of a fisherman named Masaniello who becomes the leader of the peasants’ revolt (this is based on real events of 1647), but his father coerces him into marrying the more socially acceptable Elvire. Yet Fenella, imprisoned by Alphonse’s father, manages to escape and begs Elvire to help her. Fenella witnesses Alphonse’s marriage and is stunned to discover that Elvire is the bride, but the latter keeps her promise to help her and Alphonse, still in love with Fenella, also helps her escape. Masaniello and his fishermen plan for the revolution; when Alphonse and Elvire are captured, she begs the rebel leader to help them escape, and he does so before learning who they really are. When his actions are discovered, Masaniello is considered a traitor by the rebels and poisoned by his rival leader, Pietro; but this must be a rather odd, weak, and slow-acting poison, because Masaniello doesn’t die but just goes mad. Oddly enough, the peasants still trust him to lead them into battle, which he does. Fleeing from him this time, Elvire tries to convince Fenella to escape with her, but the mute girl learns that her brother was killed by his own men when he tried once again to protect Elvire and takes her own life.
Listening to the opera, especially as well and tautly conducted as it is by Antony Hermus, one is continually struck by the impressive and original music with which Auber graced this plot. Unlike so many Auber opera arias I’ve heard (think of “L’eclat de rire” from his Manon Lescaut), this music demands that rare combination of vocal agility and flexibility with dramatic declamation. And let me tell you, this music is hard to sing: just listen to Elvire’s act 1 aria, “O moment enchanteur,” and you’ll hear what I mean. Angelina Ruzzafante, like so many of her soprano sisters nowadays (think of Barbara Frittoli or Patricia Racette), has a good enough technique to cope with the music’s difficulties and acts very well with the voice (a real necessity in this opera), yet has an inconsistent and sometimes acidic tone in the upper register (which does improve tonally as the performance goes on). This, however, is not entirely a detriment to a role which, like the opera itself, calls for drama over sheer vocalism, and the almost relentless drive of Auber’s music, in this opera at least, is a major factor in determining the prescribed style in which it is to be performed.
Tenor Oscar de la Torre, as Alphonse, has slightly tight voice production but superb phrasing, excellent declamation, and high notes in abundance—and he needs every last one of them, as they are written into the score and not optional. The other tenor, Diego Torre as Masaniello, has a similarly light, bright voice, and to my ears a more even tone production. Both are excellent in what they do. In fact, the only really poor voice in the cast is that of Masaniello’s rival, Pietro, sung by baritone Wiard Witholt.
The only other complete commercial recording of this opera that I could track down was the one made in September 1996 (EMI) with a considerably over-the-hill Alfredo Kraus and, though she was much younger, an already over-the-hill June Anderson (who also had, in my estimation, ZERO excitement as an interpreter); this is therefore clearly the better of the two recordings. (Since Kraus wanted to sing Masaniello’s famous aria, “Du pauvre seul ami fidèle,” he took that role, giving the equally cruel tessitura of Alphonse to a good but not great tenor, John Aler.)
There are two negatives, only one of which really affects us as listeners: 1) the stage production seems to have been updated to represent a gang war, as Masaniello is wearing a do-rag and a sleeveless T-shirt with “FSBN Bulldogs” proudly printed on it, and 2) the libretto is in French only. Other than that, this recording is a must-get for any lovers of truly dramatic opera of the ottocento period. This music is so great as to almost beggar belief, driving forward with an impulse that is sheerly visceral and practically irresistible. After hearing it, I almost wanted to go out and smash a government newspaper window myself! Go for it!
FANFARE: Lynn René Bayley
Auber: La Muette De Portici / Hermus, Anhaltische Philharmonie Dessau
$36.99
CD
CPO
Jul 30, 2013
777694-2
Czerny: Grand Concerto in E-Flat Major & Other Works / Tuck, Bonynge, English Chamber Orchestra
Naxos
Available as
CD
$19.99
Oct 11, 2019
Carl Czerny penned an astonishing amount of music, including the numerous potpourris, fantasies, teaching pieces and studies for which he became known. This recording features the delightfully entertaining Concertino in C major, Op. 210/213, as well as the highly enjoyable Rondino, a work based on an enchanting theme taken from Daniel Auber’s opera comique Le Macon. A pupil and lifelong friend of Beethoven, Czerny was just 21 when he wrote the pastoral Second Grand Concerto in E flat major. Begun only twelve days after he had given the Viennese premiere of his mentor’s Emperor Concerto, the same choice of key seems a fitting homage to the grand master he so revered.
Czerny: Grand Concerto in E-Flat Major & Other Works / Tuck, Bonynge, English Chamber Orchestra
$19.99
CD
Naxos
Oct 11, 2019
8573998
Rossi: Il Domino Nero / Aprea, Marchigiana Philharmonic Orchestra
Bongiovanni
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CD
$18.99
Jun 15, 2018
Lauro Rossi was a prominent composer and teacher in the period from 1830 to 1880. A brilliant, lively personality from both a humanistic and artistic point of view emerges from the documents. Modern critics have included him in the indistinct group of ‘lesser’ names from the period of Bellini and Donizetti, acknowledging his ability and primary role in the buffo genre, considering with equally close attention his later writing in the serious genre. Rossi’s Il domino nero was staged for the first time at Milan’s Teatro alla Canobbiana on September 1, 1849. The subject was used for the first time in the libretto Eugene Scribe wrote for Le domino noir, an opera comique in three acts by Daniel Auber, successfully staged at the Salle de la Bourse in Paris on December 2, 1837 and performed by Laure Cinti Damoreau and Joseph-Antoine-Charles Couderc. Rubino kept the period and the setting in Spain and used some of the ideas, but in substance moved away from Scribe’s plot. As well as the adaptability and technical ability in belcanto style, the singers must have first-rate acting talent. Rossi had the gift of simplicity and a ‘modern’ sensitivity, which goes beyond Rossini and Donizetti’s great teaching. By choice, his writing is easily followed, whereas his solid training in composition can be noted above all in the skill with which he treats the chorus, which has a key role, from the point of view of both music and stage presence.
Rossi: Il Domino Nero / Aprea, Marchigiana Philharmonic Orchestra
$18.99
CD
Bongiovanni
Jun 15, 2018
GB2328/29-2
Auber and Grétry: Arias of 19th Century New Orleans / Rowe
Centaur Records
Available as
CD
$17.99
Oct 01, 2021
This album showcases works by Romantic composer Daniel-Francois Auber and classical-era luminary Andre Ernest Modeste Grétry. New Orleans was one of the first cities in the U.S. to embrace opera on a significant level, becoming well-known for its French Opera House in the 19th Century. This album features some key French arias that figured prominently in New Orleans in the early 19th Century, in the overlap between eras.
Dr. Alissa Mercurio Rowe is an active choral conductor, voice teacher, and soloist. She currently serves as Professor and Director of Choral Activities at Southeastern Louisiana University. During the summers of 2003 and 2004 she served as a member of the All-State voice faculty at Interlochen Arts Academy. She conducts the Southeastern Concert Choir, Southeastern Louisiana University's premiere choral ensemble, with which she conducted several world premieres. She is active as an adjudicator, has given choral and vocal workshops in the Midwest and Southeastern states, and has conducted numerous Honor Choirs.
Auber and Grétry: Arias of 19th Century New Orleans / Rowe
$17.99
CD
Centaur Records
Oct 01, 2021
CRC3881
475 Years of the Saxon State Orchestra of Dresden
Profil
Available as
CD
$85.99
$42.97
Oct 06, 2023
The preserved “miraculous harp:” 475 years of orchestra history – and a whole century is there to be listened to. This CD box is an invitation to a musical journey through time with one of the world’s best orchestras! Not only that, it is one of the world’s oldest, founded in 1548 and active without a break ever since. The former Hofkapelle, the court orchestra of Saxony, now proudly bears the name Sachsische Staatskapelle Dresden. “Kapellkonzerte“ since the beginning of sound recordings under conductors like: Fritz Busch, Richard Strauss, Karl Böhm, Joseph Keilberth, Kurt Sanderling, Otmar Suitner, Herbert Blomstedt, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Bernard Haitink, Fabio Luisi, Christian Thielemann and many more
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475 Years of the Saxon State Orchestra of Dresden
$85.99
$42.97
CD
Profil
Oct 06, 2023
PH23007
Auber: Marco Spada / Hallberg, Obraztsova, Smirnova, Bogorad, Bolshoi Ballet [blu-ray]
BelAir Classiques
Available as
Blu-Ray
$36.99
$32.99
Nov 18, 2014
This Blu-ray Disc is only playable on Blu-ray Disc players and not compatible with standard DVD players.
Performed in 1981 by Rudolf Nureyev and re-created specifically for the Bolshoi Ballet by French choreographer Pierre Lacotte, “Marco Spada, or the Bandit’s Daughter” is a grandiose and unique ballet on both a technical and dramatic level: complex choreography, five lead roles created for five principals, several changes in scenery, the participation of nearly all the Corps de ballet and even the presence of animals on stage. The American soloist David Hallberg stars as Marco Spada with Evguenia Obraztsova, Olga Smirnova, Semion Chudin and the Corps de ballet of the Bolshoi Ballet.
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Auber: Marco Spada / Hallberg, Obraztsova, Smirnova, Bogorad, Bolshoi Ballet [blu-ray]
$36.99
$32.99
Blu-Ray
BelAir Classiques
Nov 18, 2014
BAC413
Massenet: L'histoire de Manon / Yates, Paris National Opera Orchestra [Blu-ray]
BelAir Classiques
Available as
Blu-Ray
$42.99
Oct 28, 2016
Since it was first published in 1731, L’Histoire du Chevalier Dex Grieux et de Manon Lescaut has been the object of numerous adaptations for both stage and screen. In the 19th century, Daniel-Francois-Esprit Auber, Jules Massenet and Giacomo Puccini used Abbe Prevost’s novel as the theme for their respective operas. After 1912, cinema transposed the story of Manon and the Knight into varying degrees of melodramatic intensity. In 1974 British choreographer Kenneth MacMillan in turn decided to focus on the two protagonists for an ambitious ballet that could translate the feelings and emotions of two souls abused by the accidents of life and their own personal weaknesses. In short, how a young girl on her way to a convent manages to elope with the young student with whom she has just fallen in love, only to leave him to escape destitution and finally allow herself to be persuaded by her brother Lescaut to yield to the advances of wealthy “protectors.” Rather than reuse the score of Massenet’s opera, MacMillan entrusted Leighton Lucas with the task of arranging a series of extracts taken from a selection of the French composer’s operatic, symphonic and vocal scores. The end result was a huge success from its debut performance in London in 1974 onwards. Sixteen years later, L’Histoire de Manon entered the Paris Opera Ballet’s repertoire.
Massenet: L'histoire de Manon / Yates, Paris National Opera Orchestra [Blu-ray]
$42.99
Blu-Ray
BelAir Classiques
Oct 28, 2016
BAC435
Ferdinand Herold: Overtures And Symphonies, Vol. 28
Dynamic
Available as
CD
$10.99
May 29, 2012
HÉROLD Overtures: Zampa; Le Pré aux clercs. Symphonies: No. 1 in C; No. 2 in D • Wolf-Dieter Hauschild, cond; O of Italian Switzerland • DYNAMIC 8028 (54:25)
Reissued as part of its ongoing series of “Delizie Musicali” releases, the performances on this Dynamic CD were recorded in 1998 and appeared originally as CDS 282. In that guise, the disc was reviewed in very few words but recommended by John Bauman in Fanfare 24:2.
Louis Joseph Ferdinand Hérold (1791–1833) has maintained a tenuous hold in the repertoire thanks mainly to the overture to his opera Zampa, and to his ballet La Fille mal gardée. Of many composers largely forgotten today we can at least say that they were renowned and celebrated in their own time, but Hérold, despite having shown early promise, never really achieved widespread recognition outside of the early 19th-century French opera and ballet circle of composers—namely, François Adrien Boieldieu and Daniel Auber—with whom he sometimes collaborated.
Hérold’s 20-plus operas and half-dozen ballets met with variable success, more of them misses than hits. But his efforts weren’t limited to the theater. Besides the two symphonies on this disc, he also wrote four piano concertos and at least three string quartets, which I have on a REM CD performed by the Annesci Quartet.
Evidence of just how popular Hérold’s Zampa Overture once was is the fact that we played it, most likely in a simplified arrangement, in my high school orchestra, which now seems like it must have been only a year or two after the piece was written. But it’s rarely performed in concert these days, despite some 25 recordings. Reacquainting myself with the piece after not having heard it in quite some time, I can understand why, and it’s not the performance that’s at fault on this CD. The overture is as banal and cliché as the libretto on which it raises the curtain, which is to say it’s pretty typical of the fluffy cotton candy melodies and jangling gallops common to much early 19th-century French opera and ballet.
Hérold’s opera Le Pré aux clercs (The Clerks’ Meadow) may be the composer’s last work, for it seems he died five weeks after it was premiered by the Opéra-Comique on December 15, 1832. It’s said that his premature death was hastened by the lead soprano, one Alphonsine-Virginie-Marie Dubois, who held out for more money to appear in subsequent performances. To me, that suggests she had a rather low opinion of Hérold’s music and preferred not to have her name associated with it, but for a few extra francs she was willing to hold her nose while she sang.
The words “French composer” and “19th-century symphony” don’t usually go together in the same sentence and are often scoffed at when they do, at least until the many notable and significant exceptions are pointed out, beginning with Berlioz. The fact is that the club of well-known French composers who wrote symphonies was not really all that exclusive. Members included Bizet, Gounod, Gouvy, Farrenc, Lalo, Franck, Saint-Saëns, Boëllmann, Chausson, Magnard, and, no doubt, a number of others.
Hérold also made two contributions to the genre. The first, dated 1813, was apparently composed to satisfy a requirement that all recipients of the Prix de Rome, which Hérold had won the year before, had to write a symphony to demonstrate their progress. Accordingly, it’s an academically crafted work that follows all the standard rules of layout and form. Danilo Prefumo’s album note uses the words “traditional” and “unproblematic” to describe it. Hérold’s melodic outlines, regular phrases, and harmonic progressions are strongly reminiscent of Beethoven’s pre-“Eroica” orchestral works.
Hérold’s second symphony, according to Prefumo, followed a year later, in 1814, and exhibits “a weak penchant for lyricism.” Wikipedia’s entry on the composer, however, dates the second symphony to 1815 and places its composition in Naples, where the composer had moved to from Rome for health reasons. Whichever is correct, it doesn’t change one’s perception of the score, which, now in only three movements instead of four, shows no real advance over the earlier opus.
No one will find these works challenging to the ear or difficult to comprehend, and all should find them enjoyable, even if at times they can sound a bit frivolous and superficial. But this is mostly pleasant music, well performed by Wolf-Dieter Hauschild leading his Lugano-based orchestra, and in good recorded sound. My only reservation in recommending it is that today’s (mid-June 2012) price of $12.99 at ArkivMusic and $14.99 at Amazon seems rather high for a 14-year-old reissue. But then, if for some reason, you must absolutely have the original Dynamic CD (which I do, by the way), Amazon will be happy to sell it to you as an import for $99.99. If there are any takers, I’ll sell mine for half that and keep this “Delizie Musicali” rerelease in its place.
FANFARE: Jerry Dubins
Ferdinand Herold: Overtures And Symphonies, Vol. 28
$10.99
CD
Dynamic
May 29, 2012
DYN-DM8028
Auber: La Part du Diable
Sterling Records
Available as
CD
$32.99
May 03, 2024
The minstrel Carlo Broschi has hidden his sister Casilda in a convent to protect her from the machinations of the clergy who wish to make a present of her for King Ferdinand VI. In Carlo's opinion, she is in love with an unknown cavalier - likewise too highborn to have any lawful intentions toward her. Carlo happens upon the King, who is possessed by melancholy and succeeds in cheering him with a song (It was, in fact, Ferdinand's predecessor Philip V, for whom Farinelli was engaged as a music therapist). As a reward, he is invited to the court, where he encounters his sister's lover, Raphael d'Estuniga. Raphael is so despondent over his thwarted passion that he is ready to sell his soul, so Carlo introduces himself as Satan, ready to lend aid for half of his takings. Casilda appeals to Carlo for protection; she has been kidnapped by the priests and brought to the king, who, only recently having recovered his sanity, takes her for a ghost. Carlo leaves to speak with the queen (Louise-Rosalie Lefebvre created this role Louise-Rosalie Lefebvre) and leaves the lovers alone. Raphael, who has obtained an office due to Carlo's influence and has had uncommon luck at gambling, is so confident of supernatural aid that he is nonplussed at the king's entrance, even when the latter orders his death. Carlo attempts to smooth things over by telling the king Raphael is her husband, but the Grand Inquisitor exposes the fabrication, enraging the king against Carlo as well. Things can only be put right by Carlo's revealing all and reminding the king that the queen still suspects nothing. Carlo, who has never hesitated to claim his 50%, tells his future brother-in-law that his share will be Casilda's happiness this time.
Auber: La Part du Diable
$32.99
CD
Sterling Records
May 03, 2024
CDO1133
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On Sale![Auber: Marco Spada / Hallberg, Obraztsova, Smirnova, Bogorad, Bolshoi Ballet [blu-ray]](//arkivmusic.com/cdn/shop/files/2804740_8e23a8df-6acc-4b32-bb25-629cc8cda8d0.jpg?v=1778389721&width=800)
On Sale![Massenet: L'histoire de Manon / Yates, Paris National Opera Orchestra [Blu-ray]](//arkivmusic.com/cdn/shop/files/3484061.jpg?v=1778389700&width=800)
![Auber: Marco Spada / Hallberg, Obraztsova, Smirnova, Bogorad, Bolshoi Ballet [blu-ray]](http://arkivmusic.com/cdn/shop/files/2804740_8e23a8df-6acc-4b32-bb25-629cc8cda8d0.jpg?v=1778389721&width=800)
![Massenet: L'histoire de Manon / Yates, Paris National Opera Orchestra [Blu-ray]](http://arkivmusic.com/cdn/shop/files/3484061.jpg?v=1778389700&width=800)
