Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Rumon Gamba - Vincent d’Indy: Orchestral Works, Vol. 4 (2011) [Hi-Res]

Tracklist

01. Poème des rivages, Op. 77: I. Calme et lumière. Agay
02. Poème des rivages, Op. 77: II. La joie du bleu profond. Miramar de Mallorca
03. Poème des rivages, Op. 77: III. Horizons verts. Falconara
04. Poème des rivages, Op. 77: IV. Le mystère de l'océan. La Grande Côte
05. Symphony No. 1 in A major, 'Italienne': I. Rome. Andante maestoso
06. Symphony No. 1 in A major, 'Italienne': II. Florence. Allegro vivace
07. Symphony No. 1 in A major, 'Italienne': III. Venice. Andante, sans lenteur
08. Symphony No. 1 in A major, 'Italienne': IV. Naples. Saltarelle



D’Indy was a contemporary of Debussy and Ravel, and a pupil of César Franck. Fauré described him as ‘The Samson of Music’ for his multifarious and generous-minded work as a composer, conductor, educator, and propagandist who greatly strengthened French musical culture. With a style essentially eclectic and strongly influenced above all by Beethoven and Wagner, d’Indy particularly excelled in orchestral composition. He drew particular inspiration from his native region in southern France, and formed a body of post-romantic works richly orchestrated, often inflected with folk-like melodies, and employing Franck’s well-known ‘cyclic method’.

The exclusive Chandos artist Rumon Gamba and the Iceland Symphony Orchestra here return with Volume 4 of Chandos’ highly acclaimed series devoted to these unjustly neglected orchestral works. Of Symphony No. 3 on Volume 3, released in 2010, Classic FM said: ‘Following their first two much-praised discs, Rumon Gamba and the Iceland Symphony further champion the lushly colourful and impressionistic orchestral music of Vincent d’Indy. It’s a fascinating work that mixes straightforward militaristic passages with a high-Romantic, 20th-century language that’s part Expressionist, part Impressionist’.

Symphonie italienne was written when d’Indy was in his late teens. It was strongly inspired by his travels in Italy, and the four movements bear the respective titles ‘Rome’, ‘Florence’, ‘Venice’, and ‘Naples’. Heavily indebted in style to Mendelsohn, Schumann, and Berlioz, this tuneful work was a tremendous if ambitious undertaking for the comparative novice, and shows early signs of the composer’s strong intellectual musical mind.

D’Indy composed the Symphonie Suite Poème des Rivages, his late orchestral masterpiece, in 1919 – 21. It is a work of outstanding technical accomplishment and poetic inspiration, which succeeds in combining the solid post-Franckian structures with the textual and colouristic fluidity of Debussy. The orchestral forces, including four saxophones, create an almost visual impression of light and atmosphere, in the manner of Claude Monet. Its well-received premiere took place in New York on 1 December 1921 under d’Indy’s direction.

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