Jean-Luc Tingaud, RTE National Symphony Orchestra - Bizet: Roma, Patrie Overture (2015)

The success of Bizet’s opera Carmen has overshadowed the rest of his output, but this fascinating orchestral programme, which includes a number of seldom performed works, reveals more of his talent for writing colourful, atmospheric and melodic music. The Overture in A was Bizet’s first orchestral work and unperformed in his lifetime, while the Marche funèbre was originally the prelude to an opera about love and vengeance, now lost. The dramatic overture Patrie captures the mood following the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-71, while the Petite suite is a set of orchestrations of movements from Jeux d’enfants (Children’s Games). Conceived in Italy as a symphony, after Bizet had won the Prix de Rome, Roma occupied the composer for 11 years before the final version heard here.

Composer: Georges Bizet
Conductor: Jean-Luc Tingaud
Orchestra/Ensemble: RTE National Symphony Orchestra

Bizet’s stage works have always attracted more attention than his orchestral music, an imbalance that Jean-Luc Tingaud’s latest disc with the RTÉ National Symphony attempts to address. It offers a survey of Bizet’s entire career, from his first attempt in 1855, the Overture in A, to the nationalistic Patrie, written in 1873 in the aftermath of the Franco-Prussian War. Tingaud includes the familiar Petite Suite, arranged in 1871 from Jeux d’Enfants for piano duet, and tellingly adds Les Quatre Coins, a movement omitted from the final orchestral version. The most substantial work is the rarely played Roma, a symphony that occupied Bizet on and off from 1860 to 1871, the freshness of which belies its protracted genesis. Throughout, you get a real sense of Bizet’s concise, highly individual voice emerging after a period of careful imitation of his chosen models: Auber for the Overture in A; Berlioz, more surprisingly, for a brooding Marche Funèbre in B Flat, dating from 1861. The performances are supremely elegant, if occasionally lacking in panache. But this is an important release, and highly recommended.

Tracklist:

01. Marche Funèbre in B minor (1860-61) 8:25

02. Overture in A major (ca.1855) 12:39
1st / 4 BIZET's submissions (in 1856) to the Prix de Rome

03. Patrie - Overture, Op.19 (1873) 12:18

04. Jeux d'enfants: No.8. Esquisse. Les Quatre Coins 3:02
(version for orchestra)


Petite Suite, Op.22
(1871, arr. of Jeux d'enfants)

05. No.1. Marche: Trompette et tambour 2:22
06. No.2. Berceuse: La Poupee 2:47
07. No.3. Impromptu: La Toupie 1:02
08. No.4. Duo: Petit mari, petite femme 2:55
09. No.5. Galop: Le Bal 1:44


Roma, 'Fantaisie Symphonique' in C major
(1860-68, rev. 1871)

10. I. Andante tranquillo - Allegro agitato - Andante 11:32
11. II. Allegro vivace 5:35
12. III. Andante molto 7:33
13. IV. Allegro vivacissimo 6:31

Total Playing Time: 01:18:25