Sold Date: January 26, 2021
Start Date: January 5, 2021
Final Price: $19.90 (USD)
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CD LIKE NEW - PLAYED ONCE Jean Martinon  Vol. 1  Chicago Symphony Orchestra  - LIVE  Orchestra Hall  1966-68
Chausson Poeme de l'amour et de la Mer - Maureen Forrester, contralto - Feb. 8, 1968 Debussy Images for Orchestra - Jan. 19, 1967 Ravel  Tzigane - Zino Francescatti, violin  -  Mar. 17, 1966 
"Canadian Maureen Forrester was one of the great contraltos of her time (the 1950s through the early 1980s), particularly known for her singing of the music of Mahler. I am not aware of any commercial recording of her singing the Chausson, which means that this fills a real gap. She wraps her rich voice around Chausson’s sensuous writing, and at the same time articulates the text with pointed inflection and color. This certainly is one of the finest recordings in existence of this piece, especially because of Martinon’s stylish, elegant and lush accompaniment and the brilliant orchestral playing. Her style is perhaps more fulsome than some other French performances might be, but Chausson was definitely influenced by Wagner and to my ears the richness of the singing here is appropriate.   Martinon made an EMI recording of Debussy’s IMAGES with the French ORTF Orchestra, but this performance inhabits a different world. Perhaps the presence of an audience, or perhaps the virtuosity of the Chicago Symphony, or both, inspired the conductor... The CSO manages to sound like a French orchestra in terms of color and refinement, but at the same time this is a performance that seems to actually matter to the musicians. It is very hard to describe ‘élan’ in words, but listen to this performance and you know that you are hearing it. There is energy and commitment in every bar, a sense of exuberance where that is what the music calls for (the last movement of IMAGES for instance), and great intimacy when that is required...  As a kind of encore, we have a sizzling performance of Ravel’s TZIGANE with the French violinist Zino Francescatti. There are a number of live-performance recordings of this work with Francescatti and piano accompaniment, but I am not aware of any orchestral alternative. Martinon seems inspired by the soloist and everyone involved is clearly having a ball. "     Henry Fogel Fanfare Magazine