The music of Albert Roussel, a naval officer turned composer, is only sporadically performed, although in his day it was championed by big names such as Ernest Ansermet and Arturo Toscanini. He draws on various strains of French music but is attached to none. This release is part of a cycle devoted to Roussel's orchestral music by French conductor Stéphane Denève. Le festin de l'araignée (The Spider's Banquet) opens with a flute line seemingly directly inspired by the Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun but in general has a ...
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The music of Albert Roussel, a naval officer turned composer, is only sporadically performed, although in his day it was championed by big names such as Ernest Ansermet and Arturo Toscanini. He draws on various strains of French music but is attached to none. This release is part of a cycle devoted to Roussel's orchestral music by French conductor Stéphane Denève. Le festin de l'araignée (The Spider's Banquet) opens with a flute line seemingly directly inspired by the Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun but in general has a jocular style reminiscent of Ravel's lighter works. It is a detailed allegorical representation of insects in a garden, with the titular spider dining on other beasts but itself being killed by a praying mantis two-thirds of the way through. Roussel's wind writing is intricate and unusual, and both Denève and the Naxos engineering team, working in Henry Wood Hall in Glasgow, keep the textures open and clear, with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra delivering precise playing...
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