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Neeme Jarvi and the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande explore Offenbach's effervescent music in this third album of their survey of French orchestral works of the nineteenth century – all recorded in Geneva's historic Victoria Hall.
From highly successful satirical operettas, e.g Orphee aux enfers, La Belle Helene, Barbe-bleue, La Grande-duchesse de Gerolstein, and La Vie parisienne, to more ambitious works such as Vert-Vert, La Fille du tambour-major, and Les Contes d'Hoffmann, the vividly tuneful overtures on this SACD recording reveal the captivating imagination of this prolific composer, as well as the flourishing theatrical life of Paris in his day. Although he was born in Germany, it was for Paris (the Bouffes-Parisiens, Palais-Royal, Opera-Comique, Varietes theatres) that Offenbach composed those works. Their brilliant tunes continue to delight over 130 years after his death. Neeme Jarvi, one of the most recorded living conductors, has championed similar repertoire with the OSR, such as the finest orchestral works of Chabrier [CHSA5122] and Massenet [CHSA5137], to critical acclaim. Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880) 1 Overture to 'Orphee aux enfers' (1858) 10:24 (Orpheus in the Underworld) Opera bouffe in Two Acts Arranged 1860 for Vienna by Carl Binder (1816-1860) Allegro con fuoco - Allegretto - Lento - 2 Overture to 'La Belle Helene' (1864) 8:35 (Beautiful Helen) Opera bouffe in Three Acts Arranged 1865 for Vienna by unknown hand, possibly the composer Allegro - Allegro non troppo - Piu mosso - Plus lent - Overture and Ballet from 'Le Voyage dans la lune' (1875) 17:25 (The Journey on the Moon) Opera feerie in Four Acts 3 Overture 6:56 Allegro maestoso - Andante - Anime - Anime - Vivo - 4 Ballet des flocons de neige 10:24 Introduction. Moderato - Vivo - A. Les Hirondelles bleues. Scherzando - B. Le Bonhomme de neige. Allegro moderato - C. Les Flocons animes. Andante - D. Polka. Allegro - Mouvement de Polka - Anime - E. Mazurka. Allegro non troppo - Anime - F. Variations. Maestoso - G. Galop final. Allegro vivo - Pressez 5 Overture do 'La Fille du tambour-major' (1879) 5:54 (The Drum-Major's Daughter) Opera comique in Three Acts Allegro - Allegretto tres modere - Mouvement de Valse - Intermede and Barcarolle from 'Les Contes d'Hoffmann' (1881) 5:12 (The Tales of Hoffmann) Opera comique (Opera fantastique) 6 Maestoso - Allegro moderato - Tempo di Minuetto - 2:02 7 Allegro moderato - Moderato 3:10 8 Overture to 'Barbe-bleue' (1866) 3:08 (Bluebeard) Opera bouffe in Three Acts Allegro - Moderato - Allegro 9 Overture to 'Le Mariage aux lanternes' (1857) 5:25 (Marriage by Lantern-Light) Operette in One Act Revision of Le Tresor a Mathurin (Mathurin's Treasure) (1853) Moderato marziale - Allegretto - L'istesso tempo - 10 Overture to 'La Grande-Duchesse de Gerolstein' (1867) 6:04 (The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein) Opera bouffe in Three Acts Arranged by an unknown German composer Allegro maestoso - Allegro - Allegretto - Un poco piu vivo - 11 Overture to 'Vert-Vert' (1869) 8:59 Opera comique in Three Acts Moderato - Allegro - Allegretto - Animee Moderato - 12 Overture to 'La Vie parisienne' (1866) 5:33 (Parisian Life) Opera bouffe in Five Acts Arranged 1948 by Antal Dorati (1906-1988) Allegro molto - Moderato (Tempo di Valse) - Presto - Piu presto |