MacCunn: Jeanie Deans - extracts

Day 165

MacCunn: Jeanie Deans (extracts)

Soloists

Scottish Opera Chorus

BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra

Martyn Brabbins

After some time both literally and metaphorically in France it is time to go back across the channel and spend a few days exploring a genre of which I have only the sketchiest of knowledge - British 19th century Romantic opera. 

Hamish MacCunn is known almost entirely for his overture The Land of the Mountain and the Flood, which came to prominence when it was used as the signature tune for a TV series for a drama set, not surprisingly, in Scotland. I’ve played it a couple of times and thought it quite pleasant without giving it quite as much regard as some people clearly do.

Jeanie Deans dates from 1894 and  like some many 19th century operas is based, if somewhat loosely, on Walter Scott, in this case The Heart of Midlothian. Only excepts are available on CD. It was well received at its premiere but soon fell out of the repertory and has had only occasional performances since 1900.  I was expecting it to be an example of  fake folklore with a lot of pastiche highland country music. That impression was certainly met early on when, after a short introduction, we got straight into Scots Wha Hae territory. But actually one you got past that there was some impressive music here in a mid to late 19th century mainstream operatic style - Verdi was certainly in the background as was Meyerbeer, and at times it does seem possible that I was listening to a little known Tchaikovsky opera in a bad translation.  There was a fair amount of amount of blood and thunder here and subtlety wasn't one of MacCunn's strong points, but the quieter, more contemplative, music was impressive particularly the lament Effie Deans (sister of the title character) sings in a prison cell. That could have found its place quite happily in an opera by any of the major 19th century opera composers without any embarrassment.

Dubois: Fantasie for harp and orchestra

 Day 164

Theodore Dubois: Fantasie for harp and orchestra

Emmanuelle Ceysson

Orchestra Régional Avignon-Provence

Samuel John

Dubois is a name which turns up quite often in studies of French music because he held important academic posts and was well respected as a theorist. He was regarded as a conservative figure and was mixed up in the scandal that erupted when Ravel was denied the Prix de Rome for being too much of a modernist.

This Fantasie lasts 15 minutes and I have to say that it is one of the most inconsequential pieces I have heard in this entire project to date.  There is nothing wrong with it and it is quite pretty in place but the music just ambles along in a sort of sub-Fauré style but without ever being memorable or inventive. Much of the harp writing seems to me to be quite unidiomatic and looks like piano music. So I am happy to return Dubois to the obscurity from which he came.

Bonis: Salomé

Day 163

Bonis: Salomé

Leo Hussain

Mel Bonis is another of the seemingly inexhaustible supply of female French 19th century composers brought back into prominence by Bru Zane and other CD labels. It really has given us a fresh light on musical life in France. 

Mel Bonis (1858-1937) achieved some early successes. Saint Saens is supposed to have said’ I never imagined that a woman could write such music’ on hearing her piano quartet but she later faded away into obscurity, though she never stopped composing. Her personal life was rather tragic including the birth of an illegitimate child who was given up for adoption.

This piece is the third in a series of music portraits of mythical women - the other two are Cleopatra and Ophelia. It is very much Salomé with an acute accent on the final ‘e’ - and belongs squarely in that French tradition of exoticism and mystery when looking Eastwards. Indeed at times it seems that you couldn’t be considered a ‘proper’ late 19th century French composer unless you had made your contribution to the genre.  I thought it was a really good piece - full of interesting harmony and with considerable rhythmic freedom. The orchestration was distinctive and certainly looked forward to the world of the Firebird. All in all I thought that it was one of the best pieces I have come across in this little survey of French symphonic poems. My only criticism was that it was too short - something I’ve not said very often so far in this blog. It ended rather abruptly and I would have been happy to have heard more.  The Dance of the Seven Veils from Strauss’s Salome seems very tawdry and overextended in comparison!

Lilli Boulanger: D’un matin de printemps

Day 162

Lilli Boulanger: D’un matin de printemps

Orchestra national de Lyon

Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider

Lilli Boulanger is one of the great ‘might have beens’ of French music. She was the first woman to win the music prize at the Prix de Rome and she was beginning to establish herself as a significant presence before her tragic death at the age of only 25. Her sister Nadia also composed but she never thought herself the equal of her sister, though of course Nadia went on to be the most influential music teacher of the first half of the 20th century.

I’d not heard any of Lilli Boulanger’s music before - it has the reputation of being quite intense and serious but this piece - a portrait of a spring morning - is very genial and attractive. It is very obviously French in style and, particularly, orchestration, but at times seems to be looking forward to some of the textures in Stravinsky’s Firebird.  There is a huge confidence in this music - remarkable for one so young and one can see why her early death was such a tragedy for the development of French music. I certainly want to discover more of her music in due course.

Joncières: La Toussaint

Day 161

Joncières: La Toussaint

Orchestra National de Lyon

Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider

So far in this blog I have heard of all the composers whose music I have listened to even if I did not know any of their music. But I had not come across Joncières before acquiring the Bru Zane double CD set of French symphonic poems - Aux Etoiles - which has been the source of most of the music I have been listening to in the last few days.

He lived from 1839 - 1903 and seems to have been only moderately successful as a composer. He earned his living as a critic and seems to have taken pleasure in attacking the music of composers who were much more successful than he was.

This short piece is a slow processional for All Saints Day. Some of the reviews I have seen dismissed it as not really worth listening to but I enjoyed it. It was well written with a good sense of line and some piquant harmonies. It is no masterpiece but would make quite a good interlude in a concert which otherwise consisted of louder faster pieces. Bru Zane have recently recorded the composer's opera Dimitri and I am sure that I will get round to acquiring a copy before too long.

Boeildieu: Jean de Paris overture

Day 160

Boeildieu: overture to Jean de Paris

Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana

Howard Griffiths

As I have been staying in Rouen for a few days it seems right that I make this by including some music by its most famous musical son Boeildieu. I've know La dame blanche since university days and I have great affection for the piece. Over the years I heard a few more of his overtures and his harp concerto but this overture was new to me.  I'd have liked to have heard the complete opera but there were many other things going on and I had to make do with just the overture.

This overture (1812) is a lightweight but charming piece. It seems to be a bridge between the world of Haydn and that of Rossini - indeed if you heard it cold you may well think it was an early piece of Rossini though it doesn't yet have an extended crescendo section. I enjoyed it a lot and it made we want to listen to some more of the composer's work. Incidentally there were a number of places where this performance differed from the published score - there was quite a lot of added percussion which to my way of thinking rather spoilt the charm of the piece. But there are so many issues with authentic texts of operas of this period that there may well be authentic variants of the score.

Bruneau: La Belle aus Bois dormant

Day 159

Bruneau: Le Belle aus Bois dormant

Orchestra National de Lyon

Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider

Bruneau (1857-1934_ is another of those people who turn up in histories of French opera and collections of historic recordings.  His operas l'attaque du moulin and Le Rêve did attract a considerable amount of attention in the early 20th century but his day is surely long past. This little symphonic poem is an early work (1886) based on the story of the Sleeping Beauty. The opening was atmospheric and its sound world is not a million miles away from what Debussy was developing around that time. But as the piece continue I found myself less and less engaged. The big peroration at the end is obviously intended to bring the music to a resounding conclusion but I thought that it misfired and seemed rather trivial and cliched. Some reviewers of the CD of French symphonic poems from which this performance is taken took a different view and singled this piece out for special praise. Did I miss something?