Day 267
Massenet: Le Cid Ballet music
London Symphony Orchestra
Richard Bonynge
My first experience of Massenet was playing the Scenes Pittoresque in youth orchestra. Other than a performance of the meditation from Thais that was my experience of Massenet until recently, when I have started to explore the operas. He reputation has never quite reached the same level as it achieved during his lifetime but as I listen to more of his music the more impressed I am by it - he has an effortless mastery which I find very attractive.
This ballet music from the opera Le Cid has had a life in the concert hall detached from the opera itself. I found it hugely enjoyable. It is no profoundly but it has real charm, melodic distinction and energy. I imagine that it is extremely effective as dance music but it certainly works its own right. There is a Spanish flavour to the score - a reminder of the old adage that the best Spanish music is written by French composers, Only the last movement disappoints: it recaps on material from the previous movement in a way which seems a little obvious and unsubtle after what has gone before.
Although I don’t consciously remember listening to this music before parts of it seem familiar. I suspect that at some point bits of the music were used in TV or films where the spirit of the ballet was being invoked.
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