Thank you so much for mentioning Sheherazade!! Every time I listen to Regine Crespin's recording, it reminds me of how much I would love to hear the work live. I love the Chausson as well. If there is any one category that we don't hear enough of live, it's orchestral lied/melodie/art song. Programming this rep would allow singers to display vocal and interpretational skills that can't always come to the forefront in opera, oratorio, or symphonic solos; and I think that the typical orchestra audience would be very appreciative.

Couldn't agree with you more. All of those great Strauss songs (besides the last 4), Mahler, Elgar, so many more. Great for singers, orchestras and audiences. TIM

I actually prefer chamber forces to orchestras for art songs -- call me crazy, but I _love_ listening to the songs of Strauss and Mahler with just (good) piano accompaniment, even the works specifically written for orchestral accompaniment! Of course, this presupposes the challenge in balancing a singer and an orchestra -- all too often, one blows the other away, and the singers _really_ get too loud when they try to win the "battle." (This is, of course, often the fault of the conductor. ;^)

As for French fare, my first (and most memorable) exposure to Roussel and Chausson came from Decca's reissue of Ansermet's recordings with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, soon followed by some older recordings with Pierre Monteux. Their work has kinda settled (undeservedly) under the present layer of orchestral topsoil.

Join us at Peabody on October 20 for Poulencapalooza (okay, I'm kidding about the name). Happy 110th birthday, Francis!

Hey, thanks for the tip. And that would be a great name, by the way. TIM

As they say on the boards, "+1" to the "Poulencapalooza" -- that's actually sheer brilliance! You don't want to blow that opportunity!!! (It just _rolls_ off the tongue. :^)

I would add Honegger as another outstanding "French" composer (although he was Swiss, he lived in France). His symphonies are fantastic, especially the third.

His cello concerto is a short, light work that I think would work wonderfully in the concert hall. Problem is that it may be a little short to be considered a featured work on a program. Maybe it could be combined with another shortish concerto.

Keep those excellent suggestions coming. Honegger definitely merits much more attention. Thanks. TIM

There's plenty of fine French music that is rarely played, from guilty pleasures such as opéra comique (La Dame Blanche or Zémire et Azor anyone? Sir Thomas Beecham was certainly a fan, at least of the last one) to more serious stuff such as Dukas' symphony to Gabriel Pierné's Cydalise et le chèvre-pied who can be enjoyed by anyone who loves Daphnis et Chloé.

But I would like to throw a bombshell: Jacques Offenbach. He's basically known for The Tales of Hoffmann, plus a few excerpts from his operettas which are rarely stages here, slightly more in Europe. Even there, one rarely encounters more than the handfull best known (Vie Parisienne, Périchole, Orphée aux enfers, etc.) of the more than 90 works he wrote for stage. And while most of them are perhaps forgotten for a reason, many have delights hidden in them. One example would be the "pork-chops duet" (admitedly, not the hapiest translation) from Pomme D'Api.

It's not the operettas, however, that I want to recommed today, nor his substantial instrumental music, but his other opera: Die Rheinnixen or Les Fées du Rhin. Until I heard a recording (available only in France and featuring Piotr Beczala), I didn't even know that Offenbach wrote another opera besides Hoffmann. And what a wonderful work it is: imagine a Grand Opéra with Wagnerian influences! The music is fresh and, at least for me, stands up well for repeated hearings.

Here's the bombshell: the first music of the work is none other than what we know as the Barcarolle from The Tales of Hoffmann!!! Plus a theme from the ballet is also well known. So what an irony: a major work from a beloved composer at the height of his powers, including one of his best known tunes, is totally ignored!

Fascinating ideas that ought to be noticed by some of the companies around town. Rare Offenbach would certainly be a cool thing for, say, Baltimore Concert Opera. TIM

"Poulencapalooza"! I love it!

Chausson also wrote a fine opera - Le roi Arthur - that would be a nice change of pace from yet another -insert your least favorite French opera here -.

Also, has there been a recent performance of d'Indy's "Symphony on a French Mountain Air" in concert? - a simply gorgeous work (try the Munch recording).

Two other French operas long overdue for revival: Lalo's Le roi d'Ys and Reyer's Sigurd. When the Met did the Lalo it offered a cast of Ponselle, Gigli, Alda and Rothier! (Come to think of it, where could we find a cast to come within a mile of that.) And Sigurd is harder to cast. Oh well.

Sigh. Those were the days (at the Met). Your list of neglected French operas points up what we've been missing. And d'Indy's gem of a work should make a comeback in concert halls. Thanks for commenting. TIM

Don Ciccio - Some time ago Washington Opera did a double bill of Offenbach's Monsieur Choefleuri and Sullivan's Trial by Jury (performed in the terrace theatre). A simply delightful evening. Many of those Offenbach one acts would be perfect in a space like, say, the Krausshaur Auditorium at Goucher. -smile- (There must have been a Trial by Jury in town since the Young Victorian Theatre did it in 1984 - if not, 25 years is far too long to go without hearing it).

Hear, hear. TIM

Mike,

Thanks for remiding about Monsieur Choufleuri; I agree about Le Roi Arthus and Le Roi d'Ys, and thank you for the suggestion of Reyer's Sigurd, which I must now hear.

And speaking of d'Indy, I just listened to his 2nd symphony in the classic Pierre Monteux recording. To be honest, it did not grab me but I am willing to try it a few more times. Plus, as I mentioned before, I am lookng forward hearing Fervaal.

All good suggestions above, and might I add:
(1) Either of the symphonies of Henri Dutilleux
(2) Just about anything by Jean Francaix (I refer all readers to several fine CDs on Hyperion by the Ulster Orchestra and Thierry Fischer for listening)
(3) Jacques Ibert's Escales, Divertissement, or/and his Flute Concerto
(4) A composer that I'll bet none of you have heard of, Jacques Chailley, who wrote a terrific symphony that I found on LP in a local library.

BTW, since I'm self-appointed Proms nerd, people can catch the archive broadcast of today's Chamber Prom of French songs with Susan Graham and Malcolm Martineau:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/2009/whatson/2707.shtml

Vladimir Jurowski and the London Philharmonic open Prom 64 with Jacques Ibert's Bacchanale, and also play Debussy's Jeux:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/2009/whatson/0309.shtml#plus1

PS on the first thread about Finzi: heard the first part of the BBC Prom of Moeran's symphony and the Finzi Grand Fantasia and Toccata, which got very fine performances.

Thanks muchly for all of these ideas -- and the Proms plugs. TIM