Composer: Léon Boëllmann, Gabriel Urbain Fauré, Edouard Lalo, Charles Camille Saint-Saëns
Performer: Marc Coppey
Orchestra: Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg
Conductor: John Nelson
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Audite
Catalogue: Audite97802
Release: 2022
Size: 1.31 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
01. Boëllmann: Variations symphoniques, Op. 23
Saint-Saëns: Cello Concerto No. 1 in A Minor, Op. 33, R. 193
02. I. Allegro non Troppo
03. II. Allegretto con Moto
04. III. Allegro non Troppo
05. Fauré: Élégie, Op. 24
Lalo: Cello Concerto in D Minor
06. I. Prélude. Lento – Allegro Maestoso
07. II. Intermezzo. Andantino con moto – Allegro Presto
08. III. Introduction. Andante – Rondo (Allegro Vivace)
09. Saint-Saëns: The Carnival of the Animals, R. 125: XIII. The Swan (Le Cygne)
Heavyweights of French cello literature, recorded by one of today’s leading cellists: from Camille Saint-Saëns’ The Swan, perhaps the most famous cello solo ever, to Léon Boëllmann’s Variations symphoniques, combining playful wit with highly original form, contrasted by the sense of tragedy in Gabriel Fauré’s Élégie. The two Concertos by Saint-Saëns and Lalo represent weighty warhorses of the French cello repertoire which require not only technical mastery but, above all, musical penetration in order to highlight their subtleties. As an advocate of the “ars gallica” movement, Saint-Saëns included in his First Cello Concerto several allusions to the French baroque tradition, but also showed commitment to French clarity, turning his back on any bombast which was considered “teutonic”. Lalo’s Cello Concerto, on the other hand, is highly expressive, energetic and very romantic, with the solo cello almost depicting the literary heroes of the time who populated the novels of Balzac, Hugo and Dumas père and fils. A multifaceted homage to French cello repertoire.
For more than two centuries, the Paris Conservatoire has maintained a glorious cello tradition, which since 2003 has been upheld by Marc Coppey. As a tribute to the spirit of his predecessors, he now presents three of the most famous nineteenth century cello concertos by Camille Saint-Saëns, Édouard Lalo and Léon Boëllmann, all united on one album.