Roussel: Symphonies Nos. 2, 3 & 4 (2006)

As far as two-disc collections of the orchestral music of the French composer Albert Roussel go, this set cannot be beat for the simple reason that most if not quite all the performances here are as good or better than the best ever recorded. And the simple reason for that is the conductors and orchestras here are as good or better than nearly every other conductor and orchestra in France at the time -- and, even more importantly, they play their hearts out for Roussel's music. This is not altogether as easy as it sounds. ... Read More

As far as two-disc collections of the orchestral music of the French composer Albert Roussel go, this set cannot be beat for the simple reason that most if not quite all the performances here are as good or better than the best ever recorded. And the simple reason for that is the conductors and orchestras here are as good or better than nearly every other conductor and orchestra in France at the time -- and, even more importantly, they play their hearts out for Roussel's music. This is not altogether as easy as it sounds. Roussel started as a late-Romantic composer and ended as a modernist composer, but Romantic or modernist, Roussel was always his own man with his own way of doing things. His themes are lean but expressive. His colors are clear but warm. His structures are expertly shaped but dramatically driven. And getting the balance right between objectivity and subjectivity, between form and content, between Romantic and modernist, so that the real Roussel emerges takes real insight,... Read Less