Orchestre National de Lyon, Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider
"Many Romantic composers owe their fame to one of their symphonic poems. Alongside acknowledged French masterpieces in the genre, the fifteen tracks presented here include four previously unrecorded works and several rarities by women composers. The Orchestre National de Lyon, a great champion of French Romantic music, offers a palette of shimmering colours under the baton of Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider as it relates in music the legend of Merlin the Magician, the fairytale of Sleeping Beauty and the misadventures of the Sorcerer’s Apprentice. "
Melanie (Mel) Bonis (1858-1937) , Lili Boulanger (1893-1918) , Alfred Bruneau (1857-1934) , Emmanuel Chabrier (1841-1894) , Charlotte Sohy (1887-1955) , Ernest Chausson (1855-1899) , Vincent d'Indy (1851-1931) , Paul Dukas (1865-1935) , Henri Duparc (1848-1933) , Ernest Guiraud (1837-1892) , Cesar Franck (1822-1890) , Augusta Holmes (1847-1903) a.o.
- Melanie (Mel) Bonis: Le Reve de Cleopatre
+Lili Boulanger: D'un matin de printemps
+Alfred Bruneau: La Belle au bois dormant
+Emmanuel Chabrier: Espana
+Charlotte Sohy: Danse mystique
+Ernest Chausson: Viviane
+Vincent d'Indy: Istar
+Paul Dukas: Der Zauberlehrling
+Henri Duparc: Aux etoiles
+Ernest Guiraud: Arteveld-Ouvertüre
+Cesar Franck: Le Chasseur maudit
+Augusta Holmes: La Nuit et l'Amour
+Henri Rabaud: La Procession nocturne
+Camille Saint-Saens: Danse macabre
+Victorin Joncieres: La Toussaint
Christmas 2023
The French Romantic sensibility is clearly audible across this beautifully played selection: texture and atmosphere are everything, tension ebbs and flows.