CD REVIEW
– LOUIS FRÉMAUX
The Complete CBSO
Recordings
Warner
Classics 0190295886738
This release is a
well-filled remastered 12-CD box
set in Warner's Icon series which
celebrates the conductor Louis
Frémaux – who died in March
this year aged 95 – with a
very interesting back story.
Having fought in the French
resistance through WWII, he was
given a commission in the Foreign
Legion and served in Vietnam
during 1945-46. By 1954, he was
making his mark as a conductor,
but was called back to the Legion
and posted to Algeria. He was
twice awarded the Croix de
Guerre.
In 1969 Prince
Rainier of Monaco intervened in
person to have Frémaux
discharged from the military and
so began a decade with the Opèra
de Monte-Carlo, building up an
international reputation. He took
over the City of Birmingham
Symphony Orchestra at low ebb for
them in 1969, (the year he was
made a Chevalier de la Légion
d'Honneur), and nine years later
his successor (Sir) Simon Rattle
described them as "the best
French orchestra in the
world."
This box-set
includes all the recordings
Frémaux made with the CBSO for
EMI, most of it by French
composers. The longest work is
their highly regarded Grande
Messe des morts by Hector
Berlioz. Other highlights include
Saint-Saëns' famous 'Organ'
Symphony (No.3), The
Carnival of the Animals, and
his two Cello Concertos,
Faure's Requiem and Cantique
de Jean Racine, and Walton's
Façade, The Wise
Virgins (based on scores by
J S Bach), Gloria, Te
Deum, Orb and Sceptre,
and Crown Imperial.
Other shorter
works include Litolff's Scherzo
played by John Ogden, Chabrier's España,
Debussy's Prélude à
l’après d’un faune,
and Ravel's Bolero.
Other works are by Bizet, Dukas,
Honegger, Ibert, Lalo, Massenet
(including Last Sleep of the
Virgin), McCabe, Poulenc,
and Satie. The twelfth disc has
the first album to be recorded
and features arias sung in
English by the post-pop tenor
David Hughes; also five sparkling
overtures by Offenbach: both
debut digital releases.
All-in-all, there
is an absolute abundance of
attractive music here that has
given me immense pleasure over
the last couple of months. And,
in addition to everything else,
it is an incredible bargain at
around £25.
Peter Burt
© 2017
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