Lalo reviews

French Arias

Petr Nekoranec (tenor); Zuzana Markova (soprano); Czech Philharmonic/Christopher Franklin (Supraphon)

French Cello Concertos: Works by Saint-Saëns, Lalo, Massenet, Milhaud & Offenbach

Hee-Young Lim; London Symphony Orchestra/Scott Yoo (Sony)

Le Bal Des Animaux

Sophie Karthäuser & Eugene Asti (Harmonia Mundi)

Lalo: Complete songs

'The arrival of a fine mélodie singer is always a cause of celebration'

Lalo's Piano Trios Nos 1-3

'To step into the world of Lalo's piano trios is a startling experience.'

Johannes Moser: Dvorák & Lalo Cello Concertos

Performed with PKF-Prague Philharmonia and conducted by Jakub Hrůša.

Lalo • Berlioz • Saint-Saëns

Chausson, Lalo, Ravel, Tchaikovsky, Wieniawski: Works by Lalo, Chausson, Wieniawski, Ravel, Tchaikovsky, Chausson

Six works, including a mesmerising Ravel Tzigane, a highly lyrical Chausson Poème and a spellbinding Wieniawski. Calum MacDonald

Lalo: Le Roi d'Ys

Another in Dynamic’s invaluable range of opera rarities, in modest but acceptable performances. Edouard Lalo’s grand opera remained popular in France until after World War II (its lively overture was among my grandmother’s favourite 78s!) but never caught on elsewhere, failing at the New York Met despite starring Beniamino Gigli, Rosa Ponselle and Frances Alda.

Bruch, Lalo

New DSD transfers restore the analogue warmth of these 40-year-old but still dazzling classic accounts unsurpassed by these artists.Julian Haylock

Lalo, Gluzunov, Saint-Saëns, Dvorák, Tchaikovsky, Casals

Han-Na Chang can appear rather chameleon-like when in the studio. In her recordings of Shostakovich and Prokofiev she clearly resembles Rostropovich, whilst in this disc of Romantic repertoire her approach is reminiscent of Isserlis. However, as in her recent recordings, her partnership with Antonio Pappano and excellent sound makes the project a compelling success, with every phrase well characterised and the accompanying passages fantastically rhythmic and light.

Beethoven Bach, Kodaly, Dvorak, Rachmaninov, Lalo, Saint-Saens, Barber, Reger & Bloch

The Canadian-born Zara Nelsova (1918-2002) is fondly remembered by many string players as one of the most charismatic cellists of the 20th century. Yet it’s arguable that her reputation might have been even greater had she enjoyed a more sustained recording career. As it is, she was perhaps unlucky to have made the bulk of her recordings for Decca during the pre-stereo era of the early 1950s, with relatively few of these surviving for very long in the catalogue.

Lalo, Saint-Sa‘ns

Coincidentally, Bloch’s most famous composition Schelomo features in two contrasting performances, also dating from the 1950s. The Canadian cellist Zara Nelsova was particularly associated with the work, having made a famous Decca recording in 1949, with the composer conducting the LPO. This later version, accompanied by the same orchestra, demonstrates the noble and dignified qualities of her playing to their best advantage, the absence of self-indulgence here and in the two cello concertos by Lalo and Saint-Saëns bringing a disarming freshness to such well-worn favourites.

Saint-Sa‘ns, Lalo, Chausson, Kreisler, Berlioz & Ravel

The first solo entry in the Saint-Saëns Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso tells you exactly what to expect – technical assurance, coupled with a slightly wiry tone and a rather self-conscious approach to rubato. There’s a great deal more charm to the slow Introduction than Akiko Suwanai finds, and the fireworks of the Rondo aren’t capricious or rhythmically controlled enough.

Lalo/Sibelius/Ravel

These youthful performances date from the years immediately following Perlman's winning of the 1964 Leventritt Competition. His technique is not in doubt, his personality is. The Sibelius is a frustrating mixture of great highs and ordinary lows. The Symphonic espagnole never really catches the imagination. And the Ravel sounds distressingly patchy, the spirit and temperament of the music proving surprisingly elusive. Virtuoso orchestras, star conductors and vintage RCA treatment package the product neatly, but somehow it isn't quite enough. Edgy transfer.

Bruch/Lalo/Vieuxtemps

This well-filled disc displays Zukerman at his best. The Bruch is given a richly Romantic reading, with solid support from Mehta and his American players, while the Lalo comes across with all its colour and rhythmic verve intact. The Vieuxtemps concerto may deserve its relative neglect, but Zukerman and Mackerras do their best to make it memorable. Matthew Rye

Lalo, Ravel, Saint-Sa‘ns & Sarasate

Firework displays are short. Why? The ruinous expense, of course, but also a law of diminishing returns that applies to anything that fizzes and sparkles spectacularly. After a while, and not a very long while, they become boring. In light of this natural law it is paradoxically a blessing that Lalo’s Symphonie espagnole is such a damp squib. It’s not really a symphony, except in length, nor is it a successful virtuoso piece, being too long and diffuse. It tires us not through excessive excitement but through the very lack of it.

Gounod/Lalo/Saint-Sa‘ns

Vocal duets are an easily overlooked genre. Yes, there are countless marvellous duets in operas and oratorios, but, of those conceived as self-contained entities, precious few would be counted among the crown jewels of the Western musical tradition. There are plenty of little gems to be found, nonetheless, especially among the Parisian salon repertoire that spawned a surge of interest in mélodies for two voices during the latter half of the 19th century.

Lalo, Chausson, Ravel

Here are two ‘Legends’ giving less than legendary performances, two doves called upon to roar like lions. The essence of Curzon’s Emperor Concerto is encapsulated in Beethoven’s ineffable transition from slow movement to finale: pure poetic refinement as the E flat chords steal in, followed by a sudden buckling as they burst into rondo life. Still, Boulez’s reliable and surprisingly heroic sweep of Boulez helps to coast Curzon along in the first movement, and in the Adagio they both effect a sense of calm without either placidity or sentimentality.

Bizet/Lalo: Symphony in C; Jeux d'enfants, La jolie fille de Perth Suite; Cello Concerto; Rapsodie norvégienne

Worth considering for Pierre Fournier’s aristocratic account of Lalo’s epic cello concerto; otherwise, largely forgettable. Jean Martinon’s deliciously chaste approach to Bizet’s Symphony in C, a gorgeous work, overflowing with Mediterranean brilliance, is sadly impaired by decidedly primitive engineering; the performance is admirable, nonetheless. Similar reservations apply to seldom-encountered scenes from Bizet’s opera The Fair Maid of Perth (1866), and the familiar Jeux d’enfants – genial interpretations, abounding in Gallic charm.

Lalo/Saint-Saens/Berlioz

This disc explodes from the speakers with a galvanic frisson of bravura at the start of Lalo’s Symphonie espagnole, announcing a superlative reading from Itzhak Perlman. His playing throughout this sultry Mediterranean masterwork is breathtaking; he excels his own phenomenal best in the finale, a revelation of virtuoso violin art at its finest. Saint-Saëns’s Third Concerto deserves wider currency, and this is a performance of masterful proportions, deeply considered, and sympathetically accompanied by the Paris Orchestra under Barenboim’s watchful direction.

Bizet/Lalo: Symphony in C; La jolie fille de Perth Suite; Jeux d'enfants; Cello Concerto; Namouna Suites 1 & 2; Rapsodie norvégienne

Worth considering for Pierre Fournier’s aristocratic account of Lalo’s epic Cello Concerto; otherwise, largely forgettable! Jean Martinon’s deliciously chaste approach to Bizet’s Symphony in C, a gorgeous work, overflowing with Mediterranean brilliance, is sadly impaired by decidedly primitive engineering; the performance is admirable, nonetheless. Similar reservations apply to seldom encountered scenes from Bizet’s opera The Fair Maid of Perth (1866), and the familiar Jeux d’enfants; genial interpretations, abounding in Gallic charm.

Offenbach/Lalo

Before he became world-famous as a composer of a host of operettas, Offenbach was a cello virtuoso, and it was during this stage of his career that the Concerto militaire was written, probably in 1847. The title refers to the mock-military opening, somewhat in the comic-opera manner of The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein. Offenbach brings the theme back to end the first movement, but in between seems at a loss how to proceed. The Andante, though, is pleasingly tinged with sadness, while the rondo finale has genuine verve.

Vieuxtemps/Lalo

Time was when the concertos of Wieniawski, Ernst and Vieuxtemps loomed large in the armoury of every great violinist. But latter-day resistance to salonesque melody and gratuitous bravura display (notwithstanding the prodigious technical difficulties involved), means that many of today’s stellar violin virtuosi sidestep this endlessly fertile backwater of the literature.