The neglect of French composer Albert Roussel, who came to music later in life, is perhaps due to his refusal to conform to prevailing trends: he stuck with the d'Indy school after Impressionism became ascendant, and he signed on to neoclassicism as that too seemed to be played out. But he made something new of the styles he touched, and these revivals of virtually unknown works by French conductor Yan Pascal Tortelier, with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, are most welcome. The works are presented in reverse ...
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The neglect of French composer Albert Roussel, who came to music later in life, is perhaps due to his refusal to conform to prevailing trends: he stuck with the d'Indy school after Impressionism became ascendant, and he signed on to neoclassicism as that too seemed to be played out. But he made something new of the styles he touched, and these revivals of virtually unknown works by French conductor Yan Pascal Tortelier, with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, are most welcome. The works are presented in reverse chronological order. The two neoclassic works, the Suite for orchestra in F major, Op. 33, and the symphonic poem Pour une fête du printemps serve as curtain-raisers for the main attraction, Évocations, Op. 15. The work is described as a cantata, but the vocal forces enter only midway through the last movement, and it's really a kind of choral symphonic poem. Roussel traveled the world as a French midshipman, and his encounters with foreign musical traditions were of a different sort and...
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