Orchestral Music (Incls 'Wallenstein' & 'Saugefleurie')

"D'Indy (1851-1931) is one of those composers at once famous and barely known. His music is rarely heard at concerts, though he is an established classic who also had considerable influence as a pedagogue. These works make a good introduction to his post-Wagnerian art. The substantial triptych of overtures, Wallenstein, re-creates Schiller's historical drama of the same name. The first, Le camp de Wallenstein, has a jollity belying its Thirty Years' War setting, and there are attractive corners in all three. Choral varié and Lied are concertante works in which, respectively, the saxophone and cello solos are replaced by viola, played by Lawrence Power with his customary seductiveness."
Sunday Times, 8th February 2009 ***

Vincent d'Indy is one of many great nineteenth-century composers whose reputation has suffered through the vagaries of fashion. Yet his fine body of works shows an imaginatively eclectic engagement with the musical trends of his age and a significant orchestral ability greater than that of his revered teacher César Franck. This disc from Thierry Fischer and The BBC National Orchestral of Wales presents a fascinating selection of d'Indy's orchestral works.

Wallenstein, an early and substantial programmatic work, reflects d'Indy's love of Germany and its culture. Based on a poetic drama by Schiller about doomed love in the Thirty Years' War, it consists of three interlinked symphonic orvertures, employing cyclic themes and other Wagnerian techniques. The superbly poetic symphonic poem Saugefleurie is also a programmatic work. Although the influence of Wagner is again apparent, the music is characteristically French in its sonorous refinement and clear luminous orchestration. Two charming and brilliantly conceived single-movement works for solo viola and orchestra showcase the talents of Hyperion artist Lawrence Power.