Alain Weber: La sotie de la dame qui fut muette – Soloists and The French Radio Orchestra, conducted by Eugéne Bigot – 1952 – ORTF – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
Something rare tonight; music of French Composer Alain Weber – his Prix de Rome First Prize composition from 1952, Le Sotie de la Dame qui fut Muette. Performed shortly after the competition in this broadcast with Claudine Collart, soprano – Joseph Peyron, tenor and Lucien Lovano, baritone – all put together by the French Radio Orchestra led by the legendary Eugéne Bigot.
The chances this piece has been recorded commercially or even this broadcast performance being released in any form is remote at best – and even most sites dedicated to the music of Alain Weber (with the exception of the excellent French research tool Music Memoria) make no mention of this work at all – so it’s a rarity indeed.
As for Weber: Born in Château-Thierry, Alain Weber began his studies at the Conservatoire de Paris in 1941. First Grand Prix de Rome in 1952, he won the same year the Sogeda Prize for his ballet Le Petit Jeu. Lecturer at the Conservatoire de Paris since 1957, he taught preparation for the teaching profession, solfège and counterpoint, then in 1970 he assumed the function of professor advisor to studies.
The Grand Prix du disque français was awarded to him in 1982 for his television work La Rivière Perdue. President of many juries, he was also a member of the symphonic commission of the SACEM (1980–83), then of the reading committee of Radio France. He carried out numerous educational missions abroad (Tunisia, Canada, Yugoslavia, Taiwan…). Alain Weber was an officer of the Ordre national du Mérite.
Perhaps not nearly as well known as his contemporaries, Weber’s work is something to discover and seek out. Hopefully, this broadcast may spark interest to do just that.
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Very interesting indeed! I love these excursions into the work of lesser-known French composers.