28.2.11 - Paul Dukas

[french frank]

Monday, 28 February, noon and 10pm:

"It's perhaps rather unfair that his reputation rests virtually on just one piece, although it becomes more understandable when one considers that he was a composer who was forever discarding his efforts, revising and reducing to such an extent, fewer than twenty works remain. Nonetheless during his lifetime Dukas was an influential voice in musical circles, comfortably sharing his time between roles as a musicologist, music critic and teacher. The roll-call of his students is impressive, including Jehan Alain, Maurice Duruflé, Jean Langlais and Olivier Messaien. As a Parisian born and bred, whose career coincided with la belle époque in French culture, he knew, personally, all the significant figures in France's musical life at this time, Fauré, d'Indy, Chausson, Chabrier and Debussy, whom he first met as a student at the Paris Conservatoire, were among the composers, but he also knew all the important musicians and literary and artistic figures too. They all seem to have appreciated his intelligence during this period of dramatic aesthetic change. Through his musical criticism he promoted the composers he admired, Rameau, Gluck Wagner and his friend Debussy."

[Serial_Apologist]

Dukas was in many ways an interesting composer. He seemed to skip from style to style - the overture Polyeukte being heavily Wagnerian, even Brucknerian, while the overlong (imv) Piano Sonata takes all its language from Franck, notwithstanding the Beethoven tribute PD intended. Debussy is said to have greatly admired this work, rather to my surprise. Beautifully orchestrated it may be, "La Peri" comprises, following its striking opening fanfare, (each chord of which modulates through a succession of tonalities), a pleasant but sub-Ravelian cycle of dance themes. The only work of Dukas's that, for me, achieved real individuality, was "The Sorcerer's Apprentice", the one work by which his name is popularly known - later much copied for orchestration and harmonic devices already culled from Mussorgsky and Rimsky, eg. in Stravinsky's "Fireworks" and parts of "Firebird"; Holst, "Mercury"; Bax: 6th Symphony, finale, to name but a few. The last piece of all from the week's broadcasts, the piano piece titled "La Plainte au Loin d'un Faun" - among pieces by Roussel, Falla and Malipiero written in memory of Debussy in 1920, was one of his few late works, and may surprise listeners inasmuch as being pretty much atonal. I especially look forward to hearing the Variations, Interlude and Finale on Thursday - a work beautifully composed for piano in 1904, rarely heard, with surely one of the most uplifting fugal endings in the repertoire - but also olther works I have thus far not heard.

S-A

[Don Petter]

I see I have a recording of his Symphony in C, conducted by Leonard Slatkin, which I'd quite forgotten about, and S-A hasn't mentioned. I must dig it out for a listen.

One reference suggests there are only twelve published works by Dukas (though Wiki makes it fourteen), so he may be spread a little thinly over the week. Will it be another case of 'and friends'?

[french frank]

One reference suggests there are only twelve published works by Dukas (though Wiki makes it fourteen), so he may be spread a little thinly over the week. Will it be another case of 'and friends'?

No playlists, but one reads:

Episode 2 'his one and only contribution to symphonic form'
Episode 3 'his sole contribution to the [piano sonata] form
Episode 4 'his only opera'
Episode 5 'Dukas, who lived for a further twenty-three years [after La Péri], failed to produce any further large scale works'

Yes, I see what you mean ...

[mercia]

according to Radio Times, Tuesday's programme includes his piano transcription of Wagner's Venusberg Bacchanale and Thursday's includes Debussy's Hommage a Haydn, but apart from that ..............

[Don Petter]

Well, I’ve just been listening to the youthful Symphony on the Slatkin CD. The first movement starts as if it is going to be rather like Bizet’s early Symphony, but soon settles down into ‘gentle bombast’, with none of the imagination of the latter work. Nonetheless, pleasantly French, with no hard corners and something of a film music feel.

The slow movement is rather dreamy, only momentarily disturbed by some gentle string agitato, then relapsing into the dream world again.

The third movement is less gentle bombast, sounding at times as if it’s trying to be a patriotic exhortation. Early ideas trip over themselves in a sort of agitated quick march, but all in the best possible (French) taste. Following the requisite slower central section, recalling the dreaminess of the slow movement, the intensity returns, after a couple of false starts, and the work ends in a conventional blaze of glory.

I certainly think anyone who is attracted by French orchestral music of that general period should give it a listen.


(You will realise that I have been dipping a toe into musicological comment, as we have been exhorted to do in another place. I shall be interested to hear others’ reaction to the work after next week.)

[french frank]

(You will realise that I have been dipping a toe into musicological comment, as we have been exhorted to do in another place. I shall be interested to hear others’ reaction to the work after next week.)

And I may have to start finding time to listen to R3 so that I can comment . (I hope it will start with a discussion on whether the name is pronounced Duka or Dukass). As others have surmised, there may have to be quite a bit of filling with works from other composers - unless we are all going to be surprised.

[mercia]

I've just noticed that in Monday's programme there are two performances of The Sorcerer's Apprentice, the first conducted by Stokowski. I think he tampered with the score so that it fitted into the Fantasia film timing.

[Nick Armstrong]

Very much looking forward to this, I've wanted to know more about Dukas for years....

[Roehre]

It was a great CotW with Dukas.
Apart from the opera fragments, we were treated on complete works. Ofcourse Dukas collaborated duly by composing only a handful of works, but nevertheless- no bleeding trunks of the orchestral/instrumental works.

[Barbirollians]

I have been listening to the Dukas CD recently released by Naxos and praised in both Gramophone and IRR with the RTE National Symphony Orchestra and Jean-Luc Tingaud .

It is a very impressive record . The orchestra play very well indeed and textures are very clear . The Symphony in C is not a work I knew but strikes me as a lovely piece . I cannot hear any gentle bombast and particularly well scored.

La Peri comes off extremely well too . L'Apprenti Sorcier is also very fine and again the clarity of the orchestral texture is striking even if the performance does not quite whip up a storm like Silvestri .

Highly recommended .

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I've just noticed that in Monday's programme there are two performances of The Sorcerer's Apprentice, the first conducted by Stokowski. I think he tampered with the score so that it fitted into the Fantasia film timing.

Well - not really. The animators only started work after the recording had been made. However, most of the works in the film were cut, presumably to get as many works into the film as possible. However, it was even worse in Fantasia 2000.