John Wilson's Escales: French Orchestral Works offers an entertaining program of splashy popular pieces that, paradoxically, depict places other than France, and distant times that stimulated the imaginations of French composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Emmanuel Chabrier's España and Maurice Ravel's Rapsodie espagnole frame the collection, representing the French penchant for exoticism and the powerful attraction of Spanish culture. Hearkening back to ancient times, Jules Massenet's Méditation from Thaïs ...
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John Wilson's Escales: French Orchestral Works offers an entertaining program of splashy popular pieces that, paradoxically, depict places other than France, and distant times that stimulated the imaginations of French composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Emmanuel Chabrier's España and Maurice Ravel's Rapsodie espagnole frame the collection, representing the French penchant for exoticism and the powerful attraction of Spanish culture. Hearkening back to ancient times, Jules Massenet's Méditation from Thaïs is taken from a comédie lyrique about the fourth century Roman courtesan and desert saint, Thaïs of Alexandria, while Camille Saint-Saëns evokes classical Greek mythology in Le Rouet d'Omphale and Claude Debussy alludes to amorous pastoral adventures in Prélude d'après-midi d'un faune. Perhaps the biggest signal of the album's essential wanderlust is Jacques Ibert's Escales... (Ports of Call), which offers three vignettes that suggest embarking on journeys from Rome to Palermo,...
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