Magnard, Albérich (1865 - 1914)

[Barbirollians]

So Magnard fans - for those us whose experience of his works is limited to the Third Symphony with Ansermet .

Plasson
Ossonce
Sanderling ?

[jayne lee wilson]

Having only been in Orbit around Planet Magnard a few weeks - and Life will keep getting in the way - I can only report first impressions which are...
surprise! There's no easy answer to this...

Listening to the 2 recent rivals, Ossonce and Sanderling, in the finale of the deeply lyrical, lovable 2nd, it would be easy to prefer Sanderling: the soundstage is better defined, his rhythms and phrasing sharper and paragraphing clearer. The slightly slower tempi are better related too, and nothing feels underplayed. Ossonce seems to rush the quicker passages slightly, feeling a little matter-of-fact here, but - his slower, lyrical episodes are so very beautiful, and the climaxes open out so splendidly, it's easy to forgive him. The orchestra is in softer focus on Hyperion too, enhancing the Romantic effect. But you are more aware of hearing an empty hall, (Caird Hall Dundee) which again slightly lessens the emotional temperature, with winds having a tendency to shrink back into the space, a little anonymously. On BIS, the Malmo hall is warmer, and the sound, as usual, uncompromisingly well-defined, spacious and powerful.
This comparison does seem to hold good for the other symphonies too but having listened to both I would find it hard to give up on Ossonce. His slow movements (and episodes) have a marvellous fluidity of line and texture. I'm drawn back to both.

Then you try Plasson in that same finale "Vif et Gai", it says - and you think, THIS is how it should go. Warmer, brighter, more intimate strings, colour, character and charm from the woodwind, more "local" and pastoral in its infectious gaiety as it joyfully kicks along! No it isn't as well recorded, and the brass are less climactically brilliant, but you hear the French Romantic tradition from which Magnard grew - in the sound of the Toulouse Capitole in the Halle-aux-Grains, the seeming familiarity and intimacy of the orchestra with the music. Plasson doesn't always do as well as this - there are times in the 4th Symphony when the orchestra only just holds things together, not nearly as polished or as disciplined as Sanderling's Malmo SO, less cohesive than Ossonce's Scottish band. But again, he finds a vein of exotic colouristic fantasy in the first movement of the 4th that the other conductors don't appear even to attempt, and an intensity in that amazing final climax which feels headier, more intoxicating than the cleaner-cut, more purely abstract Symphonic Statements of Ossonce or Sanderling.

These opinions may change, at least in their relation to one another: I might come to object more to Plasson's lack of orchestral discipline, or find Ossonce offering little that Sanderling doesn't do better - but even as an absolute beginner with Magnard, I don't think I'll shift my preferences radically.

In other words, you need all three!
Don't want to buy the shop? OK - Plasson and one other... I would suggest Sanderling then, if only because his expansive, grandly symphonic approach offers the greater contrast to Plasson's natively French warmth and expressive charm.

[Beef Oven!]

So Magnard fans - for those us whose experience of his works is limited to the Third Symphony with Ansermet .

Plasson
Ossonce
Sanderling ?

I only have the Sanderling. He gets rave reviews. For example here's a review of 1&3 http://www.classicstoday.com/review/...2901/?search=1

[Barbirollians]

Plasson is down as a very cheap download on Amazon.

[Beef Oven!]

Plasson is down as a very cheap download on Amazon.

Crickey - that's a bit of an understatement!!! At £2.29 for all four symphonies it's almost free!!

[richardfinegold]

Plasson and Sanderling recordings are both on Spotify, but I couldn't bring up Ossonce.
Is Magnard the Composer that died in a shootout with the Bosche in The Great War?

[LeMartinPecheur]

Is Magnard the Composer that died in a shootout with the Bosche in The Great War?

Yep!

[jayne lee wilson]

Listening at greater length last night, it soon became clear that Plasson's account of No.2 is easily the best of the three. Comparing the 1st movement with Sanderling, his orchestra is tighter and livelier, the phrasing more expressively shaped with a confidence borne of emotional understanding. He sees how the movement develops from the contrast between the initial Gavotte rhythm and the soaring, yearning Romantic melody which follows, far more passionate in his performance. Sanderling is very charmless in this movement, too abstract, and his slower tempi works against him in a piece that should be sunny and fresh.
With Ossonce the sheer beauty of the playing in the Chant Varie draws you back - he goes deep into the pastoral heart of this lovely inspiration, the oboe's song so redolent of the shimmering heat over a summer field. "Tres Nuance" it says, and doesn't he just... It's as though he rushes through the quicker passages in the outer movements because he's so keen to find another lyrical episode on which to so lovingly dwell!

Turn to the 3rd, and you realise that the grander and more ambitious the music, the more Thomas Sanderling's approach pays off. In the finale his Malmo players sweep all before them, powering along in a style that the Toulouse reading's quicker and lighter orchestral character can't match.

But you really do need to hear Plasson in 1 & 2 to truly understand Magnard. As for Ossonce, he has something uniquely beautiful to offer in those many passages where Magnard evokes stillness, serenity, darker withdrawal. And once heard, his slow movements are impossible to live without.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Plasson is down as a very cheap download on Amazon.

Crickey - that's a bit of an understatement!!! At £2.29 for all four symphonies it's almost free!!

I had the Plasson Fourth on a (? I think?) Greensleeve LP in the very early '80s, but it never quite "twigged" with me then. £2.29 makes the entire cycle cheaper than that one LP cost over thrity years ago! At that price, it would seem positively churlish not to have another go.

[jayne lee wilson]

Knowing the Plasson 4th from the EMI Angel CD, I'd worry a bit about what mp3 might make of it, especially if it's less than 320kbps... it's a slightly distanced recording that really does need maximum clarity and detail if it's not to seem diffuse or clouded, and as I said above, despite some unique qualities the orchestra aren't as confident here (it was their first Magnard recording in 1983) as in their 2nd, some 4 years later, which is a very winning presentation indeed.

[teamsaint]

or indeed a first go !

Great spot Barbi.
Cheers.

[Nick Armstrong]

Plasson is down as a very cheap download on Amazon.

Gordon Bennett! That's an instant purchase! Cheers.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Magnard-sym-1-Michel-Plasson/dp/B001KO68H4/ref=dm_cd_album_lnk

PS: Edit on reading to end of thread:

or indeed a first go !

Great spot Barbi.
Cheers.

Quite!

[richardfinegold]

Knowing the Plasson 4th from the EMI Angel CD, I'd worry a bit about what mp3 might make of it, especially if it's less than 320kbps... it's a slightly distanced recording that really does need maximum clarity and detail if it's not to seem diffuse or clouded, and as I said above, despite some unique qualities the orchestra aren't as confident here (it was their first Magnard recording in 1983) as in their 2nd, some 4 years later, which is a very winning presentation indeed.

If you are referring to Spotify, I agree that it isn't state of the art playback, but at least one can sample and make judgements about the merits of competing recordings prior to a purchase.

[cloughie]

Gordon Bennett! That's an instant purchase! Cheers.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Magnard-sym-1-Michel-Plasson/dp/B001KO68H4/ref=dm_cd_album_lnk

PS: Edit on reading to end of thread:




Quite!

An economical way to get to know them.

Also got this last week.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B001KKYEV0/ref=oh_d__o02_details_o02__i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

bargain download for JB fans.

[Nick Armstrong]

An economical way to get to know them.

a.k.a. a give-away