COMPOSERS: Francaix
LABELS: Hyperion
ALBUM TITLE: Francaix
WORKS: Le roi nu; Les demoiselles de la nuit
PERFORMER: Ulster Orchestra, Thierry Fischer
CATALOGUE NO: CDA 67489
Hyperion's splendid championship of this underrated composer now
reaches the third CD of his orchestral
music. Françaix was only 23 when he
wrote Le roi nu, a 26-minute ballet
based on Hans Christian Andersen’s
tale The Emperor’s New Clothes (see
article, p32). Unsurprisingly, the score
fizzes with youthful high spirits – the
frantic skittering of strings, brass and
woodwind on the King’s initial entry
is one example among many. More
surprising, possibly, that it should
be so sharply distinctive – yes, there
are plenty of Stravinskyisms in the
instrumentation (the premiere was
1936 in Paris), but the playful elegance
and gay, insouciant approach to
melody are inimitably Gallic in style.
Les demoiselles de la nuit, another
ballet from 12 years later, is about
cats, one of whom, lovelorn, becomes
a human. The colourings are more
nocturnal, the characterisation at
times more precisely focused, though
the overall impression isn’t quite so
punchily convincing as in Le roi.
Conductor Thierry Fischer seems
totally attuned to Françaix’s idiom,
and the engineers have captured the
excellent acoustics of Belfast’s Ulster
Hall to colourful effect. The Ulster
Orchestra plays with wit, point and
vitality: it can rarely if ever have
sounded better on record. Terry Blain