Henri Sauguet - Symphony No. 2 "Allegorique" (Les Saisons)

Henri SAUGUET (1901-1989)

Symphony No. 2 "Allegorique" (Les Saisons)

Genevieve Ruscica (soprano)

Moscow Capella

Moscow Symphony Orchestra

Antonio de Almeida

Recorded: September 1995 at Mosfilm Studio in Moscow

Henri Sauguet (1901-1989) was a pretty productive composer, and currently we only have a fraction of his music on disc; and on the evidence of this disc it certainly deserves to be heard. Sauguet's style would develop into something a little less immediately approachable later in his career, but the second symphony featured here is a rather easy, fine, mostly dreamily atmospheric work, most strongly reminiscent, perhaps, of Poulenc in serious mood (Dialogues des Carmelites, Stabat Mater).

It is a huge work of almost one and a half hours, and admittedly somewhat sprawling. The subtitle is `the Seasons' and describes the cycle of the year from winter to winter using some cyclic treatment of the musical material, but it isn't particularly symphonic in form and development. Each of the five sections is introduced by a part for unaccompanied chorus, and the whole work is rather impressive - more for its wistfully, dreamy but variegated atmospheres and skillful writing for instruments and voices than for anything else.

The orchestral contributions are generally very good (with strings that sound more full-blooded than in many releases from the Moscow Symphony Orchestra) and Almeida seems to have a clear grasp of the music. The choral parts are somewhat less convincing - they surely produce some beautiful sounds, but the words are completely blurred (they could, in principle, be singing a text completely different from the one printed in the booklet for all I am able to discern). Still, this is overall a fine recording of a very fine work, and can be safely recommended.

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