Vincent d'Indy - Orchestral Works Vol. 3 (Rumon Gamba)

Information

Composer: Vincent d'Indy

• Istar, Op. 42
• Choral varié, for saxophone and orchestra, Op. 55
• Symphony No. 3 "Sinfonia brevis de bello gallico", Op. 70
• Diptyque méditerranéen, Op. 87

Iceland Symphony Orchestra

Rumon Gamba, conductor

Date: 2009

Label: Chandos

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Review

Amazingly, most of this music is available in multiple recordings, even the much-maligned Third Symphony, subtitled “Short Symphony in a Time of War”. It’s actually not that short (32 minutes), and it’s really not a bad piece at all, being closely argued and sporting more than a few attractive ideas. However, the two major pieces are Istar, one of d’Indy’s most convincing essays and a wholly winning combination of compact form (variations, with the theme only revealed at the end) and exotic tone-color, and the Diptyque, warm and mellow, sort of like French Delius. The Choral varié features an interesting solo part for saxophone, very well played here, but the music is less compelling than that of the other pieces.

However, the performances generally sound very convincing. Rumon Gamba doesn’t let d’Indy’s post-Franckian chromatic harmony gum up the music’s works, and he chooses tempos that never let the listener’s attention stray. The Iceland Symphony plays quite well–better, in fact, than the provincial French ensembles traditionally entrusted with this repertoire on its previous outings for labels like EMI or Auvidis (remember them?). The relative lack of heft in the strings also isn’t the liability it seemed to be in the performance of the Second Symphony in Volume 2. With very good engineering, this third volume in Chandos’ ongoing series deserves a spot on your shelf.

— David Hurwitz

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Vincent d'Indy (27 March 1851 – 2 December 1931) was a French composer and teacher, who sought to reform French music through the influence of César Franck and the Bach-Beethoven-Wagner tradition Germanic. Known for meticulous composition and lyrical expression, he produced important operatic and symphonic works, including Symphonie sur un chant montagnard français and Istar. In 1894, he co-founded the Schola Cantorum in Paris, promoting Gregorian chant and early music studies. D'Indy also collected and arranged folk songs and influenced many composers through his teaching and writings.

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Rumon Gamba (born 24 November 1972) is a British conductor. He studied music at Durham University, and then went to the Royal Academy of Music in London. In 1998, he joined the BBC Philharmonic as its Assistant Conductor, and later became Associate Conductor. He left the orchestra in 2002. Gamba was Chief Conductor and Music Director of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra from 2002 to 2010, and chief conductor of the Aalborg Symphony Orchestra from 2011 to 2015. In January 2022, Gamba became chief conductor of the Oulu Symphony Orchestra. He has made over 50 CDs of for the Chandos Records label.

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