Netherlands Chamber Orchestra Cond. Gordan Nikoli 107
Description
Listening to symphonies by Charles Gounod might sound like about as much fun as listening to a string quartet by Wagner, but these two works were popular in France in the middle 19th century.
This was a time when symphonies were rarely played in opera-made France, and those by French composers were even rarer. The two symphonies are quite different from one another, but they were both composed in 1855 and 1856; they thus precede most of Gounod's famous operas, but are contemporaneous with the St. Cecilia Mass.
They appear to have been inspired by Gounod's acquaintance with the German symphonic tradition during his Prix de Rome trip, when he met Fanny Hensel and through her became acquainted with the music of Mendelssohn and his illustrious forebears.
There's a certain Gallic lightness throughout, but the formally free second symphony has the virtue, or flaw depending on point of view, of sounding like a symphony written by an opera composer.
The Netherlands Chamber Orchestra under Gordan Nikolic catches the lightness, the definite Gounod quality of the music, and this is a hard-to-find repertoire oddity that will be welcomed by Gounod lovers.
Tracklisting
Concerto Budapest, Andras Keller
Christoph Ullrich
Ensemble Peregrina, Agnieszka Budzinska-Bennett
Concerto Budapest, Andras Keller
Concerto Budapest, Andras Keller
Polish Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra, Wojciech Rajski
Dirk Altmann, Kei Shirai, Masato Suzuki & Ludwig Chamber Players
Concerto Budapest & Andras Keller
Lisa Illean, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, GBSR Duo, Juliet Fraser, Explore Ensemble
Narratio Quartet
Daria Spiridonova
Gavin Bryars
Josef Krips
Celeste-Marie Roy (bassoon)
Beau Soir Trio
Andrzej Szadejko (organ), Goldberg Baroque Ensemble
