COMPOSERS: D'Indy
LABELS: Timpani
ALBUM TITLE: D'Indy
WORKS: Symphony in A minor (Italienne); Concerto for Piano, Flute, Cello
and Strings
PERFORMER: Magali Mosnier (flute), Marc
Coppey (cello), Brigitte Engerer (piano); Orchestre de Bretagne/
Lionel Bringuier
CATALOGUE NO: 1C1125
How many Italian Symphonies end with a saltarello? Now you can say ‘both’. Vincent d’Indy’s saltarello remained unperformed until 2005, never published in its day and forgotten even by its composer along with the rest of this early effort – those opening three movements were at least played through by Jules Pasdeloup’s orchestra in the 1870s. That finale proves attractive and well made if over-extended, as is the opening movement with its characteristic conflict between Christianity (Weber-like horns) and paganism (growling trombones), catching fire at the triumph of the horns. More concisely, the Scherzo scampers and sings like Mendelssohn’s string music and, for d’Indy, there’s an unusually lyrical and fluent Andante. For most, the disc’s raison d’être will be the Triple Concerto, a real gem written more than half a century later and running its three-movement course from Baroque to distilled Romantic to folk-dance in just over 20 minutes. The serene simplicity recalls in spirit, if not language, the late music of Saint-Saëns. Eloquent flute solos grace its middle movement where the cello later rises to intense heights and the pianist relishes the Bachian opening and laconic cadenza.Within a resonant acoustic the orchestra sounds polished and energetic; the smallish, lithe string section is on equal terms with personable woodwind under a conductor who is starting to make an international mark – this is his first recording. Robert Maycock