Vincent d'Indy - Orchestral Works Vol. 4 (Rumon Gamba)

Information

Composer: Vincent d'Indy

• Poèmes des rivages, Op. 77
• Symphonie italienne (Symphony No. 1) in A minor

Iceland Symphony Orchestra

Rumon Gamba, conductor

Date: 2010

Label: Chandos

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Review

Considering the quality of his music and the richly colourful skill of his orchestration, Vincent d’Indy has been surprisingly neglected in the concert hall. Until relatively recently, his discography has been dominated by the Symphonie sur un chant montagnard français which, although musically memorable, has probably enticed collectors more by its evocative title. Now Chandos is in the course of recording all his orchestral works. Vol 4 in the series offers an early and a late work, both substantial, of similar length and worth having.

The Symphonie italienne was an accomplished student piece written before its composer joined the composition (and organ) class of the Paris Conservatoire under Franck in 1872. Its four movements are entitled “Rome”, “Florence”, “Venice” and “Naples”. Although “Rome” opens lustily with a trombone fanfare, overall the work’s mood and style is Mendelssohnian, especially the Scherzo (“Florence”), while the finale (“Naples”) features a sparkling saltarello. It is altogether most enjoyable.

With the Poème des rivages (1919‑21) we enter an entirely different sound world, richly scored and, in its sensuous feeling, reflecting the composer’s happy marriage to Caroline Janson, a student 36 years his junior. There is now a Franckian sweep to his string climaxes but in these four portraits of the sea, reflecting the atmosphere of Agay, where the couple lived happily together, there is a voluptuous luminosity, especially in the opening portrait of the seashore and the closing, peaceful “Le mystère de l’océan”.

D’Indy’s portrait of the Atlantic, in all its moods, is both calm and tempestuous, and in many ways even more tangibly descriptive than Debussy’s La mer: one wonders why it has not become equally famous. Certainly, the truly excellent Iceland Symphony Orchestra is an ensemble of international standard; Rumon Gamba achieves some highly responsive playing from them, while the richly atmospheric Chandos recording is state-of-the-art. There are exceptional analytical notes by Andrew Thomson.

— Ivan March

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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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