Georges Auric - La Belle et la Bête (Adriano)

Information

Composer: Georges Auric

1. Main Title
2. Beauty and Avenant
3. In the Forest
4. The Banquet Hall
5. The Theft of a Rose
6. The Merchant's Return
7. Beauty's Departure
8. Mysterious Corridors
9. Appearance of the Beast
10. In the Bedroom
11. The Dinner
12. Frightful Moments
13. The Burlesque of the Draper
14. Conversations in the Park
15. The Promise
16. Beast's Jealousy
17. Love's Despair
18. The Five Secrets
19. The Waiting
20. Avenant's Proposal
21. The Mirror and the Glove
22. Diana's Pavilion
23. Prince Charming
24. Flying Upwards

Moscow Symphony Orchestra

Adriano, conductor

Date: 1996/2005

Label: Marco Polo / Naxos

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Review

A member of Les Six, Auric inevitably collaborated with Jean Cocteau, the group’s godfather and mentor. He participated in collective works such as Les mariés de la Tour Eiffel. He also wrote a number of songs on poems by Cocteau. There are several scores for Cocteau-directed films (Le Sang d’un poète – 1930, L’Aigle à deux têtes – 1947, Les Parents terribles – 1948, Orphée – 1949 and, of course, the celebrated La Belle et la Bête). One of his major ballet scores, Phèdre (1950) is to a libretto by Cocteau; now available again in CD format in Les rarissimes de Georges Tzipine – EMI 7243 5 85204 2 2. Auric is now best remembered as a prolific composer of film scores, probably more so than as a composer of concert music. He obviously had a real flair for incidental music, and was able to find the right tone whatever the subject, be it light-hearted comedy such as The Titfield Thunderbolt, wartime drama (Heaven Knows, Mr Allison), psychological thriller (The Innocents) or fairy tale (La Belle et la Bête). His collaboration with Cocteau proved most fruitful and successful, because composer and director were, so to say, on the same wave-length. This is evident in his substantial score for La Belle et la Bête that beautifully evokes the fairy-tale nature of the film as well as its darker aspects. The score displays what some may describe as eclecticism, in that it alternates Neo-classical or folk-like episodes and harmonically more astringent ones, the latter sometimes verging on atonality. The whole, however, never sounds eclectic. The music fits the film’s episodes in a quite remarkable way. As this recording, now re-issued at Naxos bargain price, makes clear, La Belle et la Bête is a substantial score, although the whole of it was not used in the original soundtrack. Adriano’s well-informed notes go into some considerable detail about this point; but it is a fate often encountered in the film industry, and a rather frustrating one. Luckily enough, carefully prepared recordings such as the one under review help put things into the right perspective. Moreover they allow us to hear the music in a much better way than from the ageing soundtrack which often obscures the real quality of the original scoring. This is particularly welcome in this case, for Auric’s subtle and refined scoring may at last be fully appreciated. La Belle et la Bête is scored for large orchestral forces and includes episodes with wordless chorus (hints of Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé here), though the composer rarely use them as such. He allows some more lightly-scored episodes, particularly when accompanying the chorus. Some other episodes, however, use the whole orchestral range with telling and effective results. Of course, the score mainly consists of fairly short cues (there are some exceptions though). However the whole amounts to a most satisfying musical experience.

Adriano’s excellent and well-informed notes are an asset, as far as the production of this recording goes, although – surprisingly enough – they contain one mistake: Adriano fails to mention Honegger as a member of Les Six! This is the more surprising given that Adriano recorded a good deal of Honegger’s film scores. This should not deter anyone from enjoying his reading of the scores by Auric and Honegger.

This most desirable release is recommended not only to film buffs (who bought it when it was first released), but also to anyone with some interest in 20th Century French music. Auric was a fine composer, whose music is too little-known and still awaits deserved re-assessment. Not to be missed, especially at Naxos’s customer-friendly bargain price.

-- Hubert Culot

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Georges Auric (15 February 1899 – 23 July 1983) was a French composer. He studied music at the Paris Conservatoire, as well as with Vincent d'Indy at the Schola Cantorum de Paris and Albert Roussel. A member of Les Six and a protégé of Erik Satie, Auric was a significant contributor of avant-garde music in Paris during the 1910s and 20s. Auric's works are characterized by a type of musical irony, mingling popular tunes with sophisticated harmony. His most notable compositions are the ballet Les Matelots, as well as film scores À nous la liberté! and Moulin Rouge. His other works include songs, chamber and ballet music.

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Swiss-born conductor-composer Adriano (b. 1944) is mostly self-taught as a musician. In the late 1970s he established himself as a specialist on Ottorino Respighi and he has conducted many other recordings of obscure or neglected symphonic repertoire. On Marco Polo/Naxos he initiated and recorded a series of 15 albums mainly of European film music composers, and created and directed a series of classical music videos. All of his recording projects (49 albums, 21 of which featuring music by Swiss composers) have found wide recognition, and his commitment is totally dedicated and uncompromising.

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