Magnard, Albérich (1865 - 1914)

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Similarly spurred, I bought the Hyperion dyad set (BBCSSO/Ossonce), and have given them an occasional spin.
Sounds like they might deserve a more serious listen!

They're like trees that need time once you've planted them in your garden, I found: disappointing from the "instant gratification" aspect, but giving greater pleasure with each hearing. (So much so, that the very thought of them makes you mix your metaphors. I told you I could get all Radio3-y about this stuff! )

I have the Erato Ultima 2CD set of the Roussel symphonies (ONF/Dutoit)

That's the set I'm using - incredibly expensive in comparison with the Magnard downloads: over a fiver including P&P!!!

[Roslynmuse]

Don't get me wrong - I'd love to have the opportunity of hearing these - and so many other pieces - in the concert hall, but economics being what they are (it is?) I'm not holding my breath. I've been following the fate of Roussel since the 50th anniversary of his death in 1987 and have only heard the 3rd Symphony live, and the 2nd Suite from Bacchus and Ariadne. (I missed a BBC Phil Suite in F earlier this year.) I know Deneuve did Roussel in Scotland but AFAIK he's the only conductor who has really explored Roussel in the UK in recent years.

[cloughie]

They're like trees that need time once you've planted them in your garden, I found: disappointing from the "instant gratification" aspect, but giving greater pleasure with each hearing. (So much so, that the very thought of them makes you mix your metaphors. I told you I could get all Radio3-y about this stuff! )


That's the set I'm using - incredibly expensive in comparison with the Magnard downloads: over a fiver including P&P!!!

The Magnard download is still available at £2-49

[Beef Oven!]

The Magnard download is still available at £2-49

That's ferney's point.

[teamsaint]

I have found it hard to find anything substantial to read online about Magnard.
There is this....

http://americansymphony.org/on-behalf-of-alberic-magnard/

Anybody know of anything else?
And here is a youtube recording of the ( I think ) commercially unavailable opera Berenice.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PoiqCkjquZo

[Tevot]

Hello there,

Really interesting thread. The Sanderling recordings of the 3rd and 4th Symphonies were, until very recently, on Youtube and somewhat foolishly I assumed that they would always be there

I really like these works and I find them very atmospheric and brooding. I reckon I'll download the Plasson. At that price it'd be bonkers not to...

Wishful thinking, I know, but wouldn't it be marvellous if they got an airing at The Proms?

Best Wishes,

Tevot

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I reckon I'll download the Plasson. At that price it'd be bonkers not to...

- still one of the very best bargains around - not merely "bonkers", but almost "rude" to ignore such a generous offer!

Wishful thinking, I know, but wouldn't it be marvellous if they got an airing at The Proms?

Well - an "airing" anywhere would be very welcome!

[jayne lee wilson]

Looking back to my posts 2 years ago (#2#8#18#37 etc), I haven't changed my views much (last major system upgrade was 5/2013, apart from USB replay) apart from feeling fonder still of Ossonce, and finding Sanderling (despite his apparent & worthy attempt to place Magnard more in the symphonic mainstream) just too austere and unyielding, lacking schwung and not just in the dance-themes. He's best in those big moments like the 4th's finale, yes - but still there's a lack of lyricism and warmth, that French Romantic idiom which Ossonce grasps so very well, not to mention the marvellous Hyperion-engineered climaxes - gloriously full and open. As a dyad-CD or files, the Hyperion is pretty good value too.

Remember too that ensemble in Plasson's 4th (the first they set down) really is quite scrappy in places and it is more roughly recorded than the others, to judge from the original CDs(***). There's a lack of sonic splendour in this concerto-for-orchestra-like piece. (If there are any lossless downloads available they may sound better, it's potluck and case-by-case with that...). So you do need another 4th and there I do have a clearer preference for Ossonce now. The central climax to his 4th's finale is overwhelming, marvellous!

(***) the trio is still available, you don't have to track down the separates!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000006DFJ/ref=olp_product_details?_encoding=UTF8&me=

[robk]

Presto have a CD quality FLAC download of Plasson for £3.19

[jayne lee wilson]

Presto have a CD quality FLAC download of Plasson for £3.19

Great find Rob, especially as I only have the original separate EMI-Angel CD-issues here. (Gorgeous cover art - Louis Janmot's L'Envoi de L'ame is the one on the trio/download, from No.2).
I keep forgetting to check Presto! They've really upped their download game haven't they?

OK! - £3.19 for lossless against £2.56 for 256? If that isn't a no-brainer....
Busy week ahead but I'll try to listen to the Presto files as & when...

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Warner%2BClassics/5723642

[akiralx]

Has anyone heard the Bollon Naxos recording of syms 3 & 4?

I have really enjoyed Dumay and Collard's EMI recording of the long violin sonata on EMI...

[jayne lee wilson]

Has anyone heard the Bollon Naxos recording of syms 3 & 4?

I have really enjoyed Dumay and Collard's EMI recording of the long violin sonata on EMI...

Absolutely! I reported on these on the listening thread a few weeks ago....they're outstanding, beautifully played and recorded, probably top choices for the two works now.
See above for earlier comparisons, but as time goes by, I've tended to return to Plasson for feel and idiom, the French sound, or Ossonce for sheer beauty of sound; I usually find the Sanderling a bit too monumental, emphasising the somewhat Brucknerian influence, sometimes too unsmiling, not singing enough. They have their merits (power and scale in the big 4th Symphony climaxes etc) but I don't go back to them much now.

But the new Bollon does most things very well (the playing, though beautiful, can be a shade soft-edged; I'd have liked a tighter rhythmic grip here and there; but it's a small reservation), as you'd expect from someone who made an outstanding, still little known Roussel disc (1st Symphony etc) a few years ago in Flanders.
I hope he gives us Magnard 1 & 2 soon (preferably with the Flanders orchestra...)

[ahinton]

It has for years remained a mystery to me why Magnard and Schmitt, born with a year or so of one another and between Debussy and Ravel, attract so much less attention in live performance than their worderful work merits.

[Serial_Apologist]

It has for years remained a mystery to me why Magnard and Schmitt, born with a year or so of one another and between Debussy and Ravel, attract so much less attention in live performance than their worderful work merits.

In Magnard's case I agree; in Schmitt's maybe it has something to do with unsavoury views he is alleged to have held, although the same would of course apply to Wagner. But, while we're at it, does anyone happen to know if Ravel was Jewish? I ask this as I have been unable to find any information with regards to this. I believe Ravel was repeatedly turned down for the Prix de Rome award.

[Bryn]

In Magnard's case I agree; in Schmitt's maybe it has something to do with unsavoury views he is alleged to have held, although the same would of course apply to Wagner. But, while we're at it, does anyone happen to know if Ravel was Jewish? I ask this as I have been unable to find any information with regards to this. I believe Ravel was repeatedly turned down for the Prix de Rome award.

Re. Ravel/Ravet/Ravex, see http://movies2.nytimes.com/books/fir...vry-ravel.html It appears he was assumed by some to be Jewish due to his association with many Jewish friends and a joke perpetrated by Roland-Manuel. There again, I seems quite possible that his Basque mother might possibly have come from Sefardiak heritage, which, if her matrilineal descent was unbroken, would have made Ravel Jewish by Tannaitic tradition.