GREAT RECORDINGS phase 17

FRENCH ORCHESTRAL MUSIC
Bizet, Chabrier, Fauré & Saint-Saëns

Sir Thomas Beecham
Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion Française
Royal Philharmonic & London Philharmonic Orchestras

3 79986 2

Stereo/Mono
ADD

Recorded 1957, 1959, 1961, 1967
77 minutes

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"A must for all lovers of French music. Beecham at his inimitable best. The performances are entirely captivating and he gets his orchestras to play marvellously. Chabrier’s España tingles with vitality and the Gwendoline Overture is marvellously uplifting. Fauré’s Dolly is full of delights, Bizet’s Patrie is brought off with panache and his Roman Carnival has an enjoyably jaunty swagger."
(The Gramophone)

In some ways, Sir Thomas Beecham might be said to have identified with French music much as Barbirolli did with English.

The Bizet and Fauré suites and the Chabrier overture are the fruits of Beecham’s years of tax exile on the 1950s, when he recorded extensively with the French Radio National Orchestra – again, playing music that flowed through their veins.

The venue was the sympathetic Salle Wagram in Paris, where the Dolly Suite was among the last recordings Beecham made.

An item of particular interest here is a cracking pre-war account of España with Beecham’s own LPO.