Massenet Jules - Visions - Brumaire - Espada - Les érinnyes

Album

Massenet, Jules
Visions – Brumaire – Espada – Les Érinnyes

Release on October 2020
Royal Scottish National Orchestra (Orchestra)
Tingaud, Jean-Luc (Conductor)

Jules Massenet is famous for his series of 27 operas that include Manon and Werther, but he also wrote a significant portfolio of orchestral music which include ballets, orchestral suites and incidental music. The works presented here show his versatility and lyricism and include the one-act ballet Espada, saturated in Iberian colour and beguiling rhythms, as well as Les Érinnyes (‘The Furies’) with a vivid sequence of contrasting themes. Modelled after Liszt, Visions is a poème-symphonique of both ethereal and dramatic power.

Recordings

press

Reviews

…Tingaud has treated it all with the attention and respect he would accord the greatest masterpieces of the literature. That he has done so here again with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, investing these modest to mediocre Massenet pieces—the Phèdre Overture excepted—with colorful, high-spirited, and sensitive readings deserves a special note of commendation.

Jerry Dubins

Fanfare, May 2021

All these works are well played, and in Visions well sung. The Royal Scotsmen handle their duties with vigor or sensitivity as needed, and Tingaud’s conducting is fine.

Don O’Connor American Record Guide, March 2021

This intriguing release features symphonic music written during France’s La Belle Époque (The Beautiful Epoch) by one of that country’s greatest composers, namely Jules Massenet (1842-1912). He left a large oeuvre across all genres, but is mostly remembered for twenty-seven operas. These Massenet selections fare well under fellow countryman, Conductor Jean-Luc Tingaud. He elicits enthusiastic yet sensitive renditions of some rarely heard repertoire from the Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RNSO). Together, they make this disc a must have for all those loving Belle Époque symphonic fare! Incidentally, soprano Poppy Shotts and violinist Maya Iwabuchi get a big hand for their offstage support in Visions. The same goes for cellist Aleksei Kiseliov, who delivers a very moving account of that timeless “Invocation” tune.

Bob McQuiston

Classical Lost and Found, January 2021

Conductor Jean-Luc Tingaud obtains committed performances from the RSNO who play very well indeed throughout the CD. As mentioned above, the vocalise in Visions sounds exquisite as sung by Poppy Shotts, an up and coming soprano, only recently graduated from the RCM, and before that already the recipient of several awards. I have no doubt that we will be hearing much more of this young artist. The recording is fine…

Jim Westhead MusicWeb International, December 2020

By far the best music comes in his overture Phèdre of 1873 and his incidental music to Les Érinnyes of 1876. In the latter, only the first two of the six movements refer to the French version of Aeschylus’s Oresteia and are suitably dramatic in their different ways; the last three movements are merely independent Greek dances. Phèdre shows Massenet at his best, boasting memorable melodic lines, powerful harmonies and vivid orchestration. Jean-Luc Tingaud draws expressive playing from the orchestra throughout…

Roger Nichols

BBC Music Magazine, November 2020

Scintillating Massenet from Tingaud and the RSNO …very well played and conducted with real conviction. The sonics, too, do the music proud. I love this stuff, and I suspect that you will too.

David Hurwitz

ClassicsToday.com, November 2020