COMPOSERS: Massenet
LABELS: Apex
ALBUM TITLE: Massenet Orchestral Music
WORKS: Scènes dramatiques, Scènes de féerie, La Vierge: Le Dernier Sommeil de la vierge (Légende sacrée), Scènes alsaciennes, Scènes pittoresques, Don Quichotte
PERFORMER: Orchestre National de l’Opéra de Monte-Carlo/John Eliot Gardiner
CATALOGUE NO: 2564 62085-2
Despite Massenet’s success as an opera composer, his purely orchestral music has suffered undue neglect. There’s a wealth of lovely tunes here and textures both sensuous and invigorating, all shaped by Gardiner with great affection. Roger Nichols