More to Dukas

 
What a Symphony!

If you haven't heard it, pick it up now!

I really like the bold gestures and the strong architecture surrounding Dukas' Symphony in C.

It is a colorful work; what a shame Dukas was not a prolific composer.

So too his ballet and the attached fanfare, the latter particularly captured in splendid Telarc sonics.

If other reviewers are to be believed, Spanish conductor López Cobos doesn't give the symphony its finest performance, but I like what I hear. As is typical of US-based orchestras, the Cincinnati brass-forward style is an exciting sound.

This would be a fun one to explore in the recorded catalogues, and definitely should be heard by anyone who enjoys Romantic Era symphonies, if not this particular recording.

A review from 2005

Here on one disk are three symphonic works by the French composer Paul Dukas: the famous Sorcerer's Apprentice, La Peri complete with opening fanfare, and his Symphony in C. Dukas today is better known as a teacher, theorist, and critic/writer and unfortunately his compositions are overshadowed by his orchestral miniature The Sorcerer's Apprentice. The works on this CD let us glimpse at his style; highly Romantic in intent, highly Classical in form, and highly impressionistic in orchestration and program, we can greatly see Dukas' influence on composers of his time and after.

The tone poem La Peri tells of a young man searching for a flower of immortality and finds a fairy asleep holding one. He takes it, but falls in love with the said fairy. The fairy awakens and gets it back by playing on the young mans emotions; the man loses both immortality and love. The music is lush, with expert composition for strings, woodwinds and horn (of note). Merging romanticism with French Impressionism, Dukas presents us with an imaginative and exciting orchestral tone poem. The famous fanfare features the Cincinnati brass section, along with astounding sonics, comes off very well. The Cincinnati brass is extremely tight and one of the most cohesive sounds I have heard in a long time.

The Sorcerer's Apprentice, composed as a joke, here is given a very clean performance. While adding nothing to the recording oeuvre, a delightful piece.

I am not quite sure why the Symphony in C by Dukas is so underplayed; I find it to be the most exciting French symphony of its time. Set in three movements (fast/slow/fast), it is highly romantic, with formal designs reaching back to Classical Era ideals. The melodies are very memorable and the harmonies and orchestrations are constantly confounding me as to where they are leading as well as at their innate beauty and excitement. Of particular note is the outgoing brass melody of the first movement portraying a rugged masculinity, the lyrical, expansively impressionistic, and greatly yearning middle movement, and the boisterous finale which never lags and ends the work with a rousing conclusion.

This recording is sonically amazing. All voices speak with incredible clearness. Jesus-Lopez Cobos leads the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra with a very aggressive approach, showing the orchestras ability to play not only with great virtuosity, but with great sensitivity, which the music demands. The music is lush and engaging. It is nice to have an entire CD devoted to the symphonic music of Dukas, a voice who is rarely heard outside of one work and history books. If you like sweeping Romantic music, this CD is not to be missed.

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Works
Symphony in C (41.15)
La Peri (17.55)
Sorcerer's Apprentice (10.46)

Ensemble
Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
Jesús López Cobos, conductor

Label: Telarc
Year: 1999
Total Timing: 71.46

 

It has been a good long while since I have heard this recording, but it makes me want to hear others.

What I can't fault are the Telarc sonics, although some don't think this recording especially convincing.

 

 

 

 

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