– Albert Roussel – Bacchus et Ariane – Paris Conservatory, Andrè Cluytens, cond. – 1949 Besançon Festival – ORTF – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
Music from the 1949 Besançon Festival in France this week, featuring the legendary Paris Conservatoire Orchestra led by Andrè Cluytens.
Founded in 1948, the Besançon Festival is one of France’s oldest and most prestigious music festivals. Open to recitals and chamber music, symphonic repertoire nevertheless embodies the true spirit of the festival, drawing great conductors such as : Cluytens, Schuricht, Markevitch, Kubelik, Maazel, Dutoit…, to name but a few. This image was bolstered in 1951 with the International competition for young conductors which quickly established itself as the most prestigious event of its kind. Indeed, the Besançon Prize offered Gerd Albrecht, Seiji Ozawa, Michel Plasson, Zdenek Macal, Sylvain Cambreling, and Yutako Sado their first opening on the international scene.
This weekend it’s the second suite from the ballet Bacchus et Ariane by Albert Roussel, written in 1930 and premiered by the great French conductor and composer Phillipe Gaubert at The Paris Opera.
This recording from the 1949 Besançon Festival has most likely not been reissued, although I did run it via my other site several years ago in less-than-good sound. If you have the earlier one, this is an upgrade.
In any case, it’s a very spirited performance by one of the great ensembles led by one of the giants of the concert stage.
Enjoy.
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