Darius Milhaud - Symphonies 1 & 2, Suite Provençale

 

Darius  MILHAUD (1892-1974)

Symphony, for orchestra No. 1, Op. 210
Symphony, for orchestra No. 2, Op. 247
Suite provençale, for orchestra, Op. 152a

Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse
 Michel Plasson

While I am certainly grateful for CPO's recording of all 12 of Milhaud's symphonies (no.13 was excluded, but is more of an oratorio), it would be an immense pity if one overlooked the two recordings made by Michel Plasson for DG back in 1991 and 1992 (though I admit to not yet having heard the companion to this disc containing he sixth and seventh symphonies). For despite the qualities of Alun Francis's performances for CPO, these prize-winning performances are simply in a different league. Where Francis's performances are certainly raucous, brash, angular, playful and buoyant, in the hands of the Orchestre du Capitol de Toulouse under Michel Plasson these symphonies take on a glowing, glittering sheen and assume a forward momentum that the CPO performances simply cannot match.

The first symphony is variegated, with a limpid and rather picturesque first movement - one gets the impression of musical fauvism with strident colors and wild brush painting but in a generally pastoral setting. The second movement is emotionally turbulent with solo instruments pitted against a crowded, pulsating backdrop, the third more noble in character and the finale a somewhat cortege-like creation, working its way to hollow triumph. The second is troubled from the start, but it is full of instrumental, rhythmic and textural quirks and colors - including glimpses of innocence in an overall darkly boiling turmoil. The centerpiece is an impressive, solemnly reflective funeral march-like slow movement, but the work culminates in a playfully muscular, generally lightly buoyant, fugal Alleluia. The first may overall be the greater work, but the second is certainly both inventive and ultimately rewarding as well.

The Suite Provencal is lighter fare, cast in eight movements based on Provence-related ideas, from the bucolic and pastoral to the raucous, clamorous and fragrant, chivalrous and playful. The movements mix stylized, archaic country dances with idyllic, charming serenade-like movements and majestic power (all in fourteen minutes). It is a splendidly inventive and rewarding work representing a successful mix of Respighi-like takes on ancient forms and figures, and Milhaud's modern, brazenly dissonant but often atmospheric musical language.

The performances are marvelous - the disc won well-deserved accolade when originally released, and the orchestral playing exhibits a wide range of colors and atmospheres, all played with clarity, incisiveness, precision and a burnished tone with an almost golden hue, wonderfully ebullient and warm and atmospheric without jeopardizing the rather sharp edges and angles, nor the craggy power of these works. Plasson's pacing is unerring and his grasp and vision of this score always captivating (and clearly communicated). This is, in short, a magnificent recording, and it is a pity that there were to be only one companion disc (we may forever wonder what Plasson could have done with the third, fifth and tenth symphonies). The recorded sound is overall finely balanced, clear and warm. Don't miss out on Francis's complete traversal of the symphonies, but this is an essential addition; very strongly recommended.