Lalo - Neeme Järvi

Lalo - Neeme Järvi

CHAN 20183 (Chandos Records, CD)

FIRST RELEASE (19 January 2024)

Playing time: 77'22"
Tracks: 16
Booklet pages: 32
℗ 2024 Chandos Records Ltd
© 2024 Chandos Records Ltd
Main country of recording: Estonia
Reviewer: Gerald Fenech
Review of Lalo - Neeme Järvi published on 16 January 2024

Estonian National Symphony Orchestra
Triin Ruubel, leader
Neeme Järvi, conductor

Édouard Lalo:

1 Overture from Le Roi d'Ys - an opera in three Acts and five tableaux (1875-1888)

Namouna - ballet in two Acts and three tableaux (1868-71)

2 Valse de la Cigarette

Suite No 1 (Première Rapsodie)
3 Prélude. Andante
4 Sérénade. Allegro - Sans presser
5 Thême varié. Andante
6 Parades de foire. Allegro vivace - Plus lent - Andantino - Allegretto quasi Andantino - Allegro -
7 Fête foraine. Presto - Danse

Suite No 2 (Seconde Rapsodie)
8 Danses marocaines. Vivace - Un peu cédé - Plus vite
9 Mazurka. Lent - Vite - Lent. Tempo I - Vite - Pressez
10 Dolce far niente (La Sieste). Allegretto quasi Andantino
11 Pas des cymbales. Moderato - Pressez
12 Presto - Pressez

Symphony in G minor (1886)
13 Andante Allegro non troppo
14 Vivace - Cédez un peu - Tempo I - Quasi andantino non troppo - Tempo I - Lento
15 Adagio
16 Allegro

Lalo considered himself to be first and foremost an opera composer, even though Le Roi d'Ys was his only opera to be performed in his lifetime. He is now best known for his symphonic and chamber music, largely because of the highly political musical establishment in France in his time. The Overture to the opera (which opens this album) is now the best-known music from the piece, which proved a considerable success in France. His ballet Namouna was commissioned by the Paris Opéra and, remarkably, was completed in just four months following extensive delays in agreeing the subject - part of the tales of Casanova. After a successful run of fifteen performances, Lalo parcelled the music up into three 'rhapsodies' for orchestral performance. The first two of these were published as Suites Nos 1 and 2. The third was not published, but the 'Valse de le Cigarette' was later issued separately. Lalo's only surviving Symphony was completed in 1886, but somewhat overshadowed by Saint-Saëns' Organ Symphony (1886) and Franck's Symphony in D minor (1888), but it is a strong work that showcases Lalo's melodic gift and forward-looking harmonic palette.

Recorded 6-8 June 2022 at Estonia Concert Hall, Tallinn, Estonia.