April 4, 2018

  • A Rare Symbolist Symphony

     

    Schmitt: Antony & Cleopatra Suites; Symphony No. 2
    BBC Symphony Orchestra/Sakari Oramo
    Chandos 5200
    Total Time:  77:57
    Recording:   ****/****
    Performance: ****/****

    One of the great Symbolist composers of the early 20th Century, Florent Schmitt (1870-1958) was a composer whose music has had a minor resurgence of late.  He studied with both Massenet and Faure and one can feel the influence of perhaps the latter most in his work.  But it is too Debussy and Ravel that one must often turn when finding comparisons to his often lush and colorful pieces.  Like many of the composers in France in the early part of the last century, he would gain his most recognition in his ballet music, notably the gorgeous The Tragedy of Salome, Op. 50.  Recently, the suites from his 1920 incidental music for Antony and Cleopatra seem to have found new enthusiasts as an equally fine release on Naxos, reviewed here a couple years ago, brought this music to the budget music line.

    Schmitt’s music for Ida Rubinstein’s 1920 Paris Opera production of Shakespeare’s play was designed more as incidental music.  Rubinstein (who later would commission Ravel’s Bolero, had Andre Gide adapt and update the play and Schmitt’s music was used as ballet scenes between the acts.  He took six of these and organized them into two suites.  The first one moves through the gamut of early 20th Century French music with the impressionistic love scene for “Antony and Cleopatra” that has an almost Middle Eastern modal quality.  “At Pompey’s Camp” allows for some great brass writing that then moves us into the final “Battle of Actium”.  The suite here is perhaps most evocative of the sort of Symbolist eroticism one finds paralleled in Richard Strauss’s Salome.  The second suite is slight a bit more on the modern edge with a sensual “Night in the Palace of the Queen”; a very Stravinsky-esque “Orgy and Dances” section with touches of Jazz; and a rather fascinating use of bird calls and chant in the closing “The Tomb of Cleopatra”.  Each of this somewhat disconnected segments feel almost cinematic and this is where the primary appeal tends to lie today coupled with the often masterful orchestrations.

    The performances here are captured in some rather wonderful “Super Audio” multi-channel playback that will capture even more detail.  The sumptuousness of the music is well-balanced here with Oramo’s attention to rhythmic detail.  These are certainly among the finest versions of these suites in the catalog.

    The main reason to consider this disc though comes with the inclusion of the Symphony No. 2.  Written in 1956-57, the piece would be the last large-scale work Schmitt composed.  He would be present at its premiere, conducted by Charles Munch, which occurred but two months before his death.  It is worth noting that, as far as one can tell there was not real first symphony by the composer.  Perhaps he felt this gave it more weight?  At any rate the piece is not as concerned with formal structure as it is with thematic transformation and development of repeated lines and motives.  The music flits between the sensuousness of Impressionism and hints of Jazz rhythms in the first movement.  These brass interjections tend to feature extended harmonies that lend the music a bit of an edge as it progresses.  The central movement shifts to somewhat darker colors as it opens.  Here is the deep, emotional heart of the work with some moving harmonic arrival points.  What might one take away from this moment?  Could it be a reflection on the loss of innocence in the first half of the century, gentle reminder that recalls the loss of friends?  Hard to say, but it certainly unfolds quite differently than the more energetic outer movements that seem to celebrate life itself.  Munch would record the symphony and one can catch it on YouTube these days.  He premiered it in Boston back in 1960 but the piece never really caught on.  Marco Polo released it a couple decades ago (now OOP).  This new version gives us all a chance to bathe in the beauty of Schmitt’s rich harmonic language, always fascinating orchestration, and rhythmic explorations.  Traditional themes and lines are not so much important here as the general journey that an idea or color might take.  If one lets this wash over them, the beauty and magic begin to shine through.  The joyful and playful moments that pop out with jazzy inflections often belie the fact of this being written by someone at the end of their life, instead it brims with youthful expectation and discovery.

    As in their recording of the suites, the BBC orchestra provides detailed work here with excellent woodwind solo work and rich brass qualities that are captured brilliantly in the recording.  There is just the right amount of ambient balance and orchestral presence to the overall sound.  Dropped into a multi-channel playback device, the music just explodes with the sort of sumptuous color one should expect.  This will be the Schmitt disc to return to again and again.  It represents the first of hopefully many releases on Chandos by Oramo who programmed the music on this release at his Barbican concerts a couple years ago.  The release is indeed highly recommended!