Bizet: Suites

 

This 2016 SACD release comes from Pentatone's 'Remastered Classics' series, featuring Sir Neville Marriner leading the London Symphony Orchestra in 1978. Since Marriner is not with his St. Martin-in-the-Fields Academy, these are forward moving readings of Bizet's famous suites from Carmen and L'Arlésienne without undue lightness.

A review from 2018

Georges Bizet’s success didn’t come until after his early death (36 years old), but today is really only remembered for three orchestral staples (plus a few odds and ends that pop up): his Symphony in C, L'Arlesienne incidental music, and the opera Carmen, the latter two made into the concert suites, mostly by his student Ernest Guiraud, and presented on this CD. The symphony is a student work of romantic character, but it failed to ignite his career. Carmen and L’Arlesienne came very late in his life and (much like Mozart's death at age 35) makes us wonder if the success of Carmen would have solidified Bizet's career and compositional sound.

The Carmen Suites are characterful for their Spanish flavor and boundless melodic invention, making me wonder if Bizet had lived longer, would his career have gone the path of exoticism shown by Rimsky-Korsakov and fellow-Frenchman Chabrier. L’Arlesienne is decidedly more lyrical, less-inventively melodic perhaps, and certainly less exotic, but nonetheless beautifully orchestrated.

Pentatone has wonderfully remastered this 1978 performance to provide clear, dynamic sound on SACD; the Carmen Suites show off the punchy woodwinds and eclectic percussion required of the Andalusian locale and L’Arlesienne finds the string sound to be plenty full. Recorded at Walthamstow Town Hall, the orchestra is captured mid-hall with ever-so-slight reverberance, giving the entire ensemble a full sound, not lacking bite, but obviously not closely miked.

Sir Neville Marriner, best known for his Baroque and Classical era performances with St. Martin in the Fields, is here leading the London Symphony Orchestra of which he has a fairly long history. Never being afraid to tackle Romantic and 20th century music, this recording finds Marriner and the LSO fleet-footed, in good humour, and more than willing to dig into the drama. The dances are perky, the woodwinds come out of the texture wonderfully (the piccolo in the pastorale is superb and the Carmen intermezzo is quite lovely), the brass slightly mellow, the strings aggressive when needed, and it is all heard in a natural soundscape.

Some recorded competition comes up against this recording: the classic Beecham with the L'Arlesienne Suites and Symphony in C is the standard for its charm and swagger, the New York Philharmonic pours Bernstein’s unique ability to go above and beyond the musical page (Pentatone has also released and remastered Bernstein’s controversial performance of the entire Carmen opera with The Met and Marilyn Horne), and The Great Karajan with the superb Berlin Philharmonic sound are all excellent performances. Marriner and the London SO’s newly remastered recording now featured on SACD (which may be sampled on the Pentatone website) can easily stand with those recordings.

 

Works
Carmen: Suite 1
Carmen: Suite 2
L'Arlésienne: Suite 1
L'Arlésienne: Suite 2

Ensembles
London Symphony Orchestra
Sir Neville Marriner, conductor

Label: Pentatone
Year: 1978; 2016
Total Timing: 65.10

 

Through the years, this is one of two recordings I have held onto of Bizet's famous suites. Marriner and London complement those from Bernstein in NY quite nicely.

 

 

 

 

Find more Bizet recordings HERE!