Jean Morel

ALBENIZIberia – complete

(orch. Arbos / Surinach)

RAVELRapsodie espagnole

CHABRIEREspaña · Marche joyeuse

BIZETL’Arlésienne: Suites 1 & 2

Eloquence

CD 1 74’12

ISAAC ALBÉNIZ (1860-1909)

Iberia1 I Evocación (orch. Arbos) 5’052 II El Puerto (orch. Arbos) 4’273 III Corpus Christi en Sevilla (Fête-dieu à Seville) (orch. Arbos) 8’164 IV Rondeña (orch. Surinach) 6’255 V Almería (orch. Surinach) 7’406 VI Triana (orch. Arbos) 4’507 VII El Albaicín (orch. Arbos) 7’208 VIII El Polo (orch. Surinach) 5’599 IX Lavapiés (orch. Surinach) 6’490 X Málaga (orch. Surinach) 5’10! XI Jerez (orch. Surinach) 6’57@ XII Eritaña (orch. Surinach) 5’03

CD 2 61’38

MAURICE RAVEL (1875-1937)

Rapsodie espagnole1 I Prélude à la nuit 3’582 II Malagueña 2’063 III Habanera 2’324 IV Feria 6’22

Paris Conservatoire OrchestraJean Morel

EMMANUEL CHABRIER (1841-1894)

5 España 6’376 Marche joyeuse 3’53

GEORGES BIZET (1838-1875)

L’ArlésienneSuite No. 1

7 I Prélude 7’048 II Minuetto 2’479 III Adagietto 3’240 IV Carillon 4’15

Suite No. 2! I Pastorale 5’33@ II Intermezzo 4’43£ III Menuet 4’10$ IV Farandole 3’24

Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent GardenJean Morel

Total timing: 135’50

Although he composed several operas and ahandful of orchestral works, Isaac Albéniz was,above all, a composer of works for the piano,the instrument at which he himself was avirtuoso. He also was a bit of a fabulist. In hisbiography of the composer, Walter Aaron Clarkwrites, ‘It seems that Albéniz’s own story-tellingwas as indebted to Jules Verne as his actualescapades [in his youth]’. For example, Albénizonce claimed that, at the age of seven, he wasadmitted to the Paris Conservatoire to studypiano, but that he ultimately was deniedadmission when he accidentally broke a mirrorwith a ball. There is no evidence that this everhappened, nor that he even travelled to Parisat that age. Also, before he was even ateenager, he is supposed to have run awayfrom home several times to perform. Again,there is no convincing evidence to support this,but it makes a good story, and for that reasonthe story persists.

Of course composing and story-telling are notunrelated, and Albéniz was as adept as anyScheherazade. For many, his masterpiece wasIberia, a set of piano pieces composed near theend of his life. It contains twelve ‘impressions’(the composer’s word) of Spain, and is organizedinto four books of three pieces each. Althoughthey are named after various locales, it would be

facile to call these pieces a musical travelogue,because Albéniz was not interested in literaldepictions of his homeland. Instead, likeDebussy (who admired Iberia), Albéniz was amaster of suggestion, of the figurative, and ofcapturing the ineffable essence of a place. Toparaphrase the cliché, a single bar of musiccould be worth a thousand words.

Albéniz orchestrated ‘El Puerto’ but wasunhappy with the results. His countrymanEnrique Fernández Arbós orchestrated five ofthe pieces (‘Evocación’, ‘Corpus Christi enSevilla’, ‘El Puerto’, ‘Triana’ and ‘El Albaicín’)between 1910 and 1925, and theseorchestrations have become the standard inconcert halls. Some years later, Carlos Surinachorchestrated the remaining seven, thus makingit possible for the complete Iberia to be playedby an orchestra. The orchestrations should notbe looked upon as better or worse thanAlbéniz’s originals, but as a different (and highlyenjoyable) thing entirely.

‘Evocación’, which opens Iberia, employs, likethe other eleven pieces, the rhythms of specificSpanish songs and dances, although again,these are suggested more than baldly stated.The port referenced in ‘El Puerto’ is El Puerto deSanta María, not far from Cádiz. This piece is inthe style of a zapateado, so called because the

shoes (zapatos) of the dancers emphasize thedance’s rhythms. Unlike the other pieces inIberia, ‘Corpus Christi en Sevilla’ isprogrammatic, as it depicts an annual processionin which a statue of the Virgin Mary is paradedthrough the streets of Seville. Celebration andpenitence are mixed together, and what onecommentator called ‘a piercing cry of religiousecstasy’ rings forth.

The second book opens with ‘Rondeña,’ namedfor the Andalusian mountain town of Ronda. Itis supposedly based on the genre of flamencocalled the petenera in which 6/8 and 3/4 timealternate. Another Andalusian town, this onelocated on theMediterranean, lends its name to‘Almería’. Again, 6/8 and 3/4 time alternate.‘Triana’ is a district of Seville that is home togypsies, and to flamenco, and several aspects ofthe latter can be identified in this exuberantpiece as well.

Another community of gypsies, this one inGranada, is the subject of ‘El Albaicín’. This is amoodier piece than ‘Triana’ – cries of anger anddespair intermingle with revelry. ‘El Polo’ alludesto another genre of flamenco, one in which thedominant emotion is one of anguish. (Thecomposer wryly commented that it ‘should notbe confused with the sport of the same name’.)The third book closes with the cheerful

‘Lavapiés’, a colourful district of Madridassociated with popular entertainment of theless sophisticated kind.

The last book begins with ‘Málaga’, a porttown in the southern part of Spain, and thesupposed birthplace of the genre of flamencoknown as themalagueña. The town of Jerez issynonymous with sherry, and those whoassociate that drink with refinement will notethat Albéniz’s ‘Jerez’ possesses a dignifiedrestraint not found in the other pieces in Iberia.The cycle closes with ‘Eritaña’, after a suburbof Seville. Debussy called it ‘the joy of morning,the happy discovery of a tavern where the wineis cool’.

Rapsodie espagnole, like many of Ravel’sorchestral works, began as a work for piano –two pianos, to be exact – but the orchestralversion followed the piano original almostimmediately. (The exception is the ‘Habanera’which dates back to 1895.) Ravel composedseveral works with a Spanish flavour: in additionto the Rapsodie espagnole, there is his operaL’Heure espagnole, Boléro, and the Pièce enforme de Habanera. Although Ravel only brieflyvisited Spain, his Basque mother preferredspeaking Spanish to French, and he himself wasborn not far from the Spanish border. This goesto show that one need not be Spanish to write

typically Spanish music, just as one need not bea sailor or a fisherman – in the case of ClaudeDebussy – to write La Mer!

The opening ‘Prélude à la nuit’ (Prelude atNight) is Ravel at his most Impressionistic andDebussy-like. The ‘Malagueña’ – dark, but withviolent bursts of colour, also seems to be set atnight, perhaps in a city tavern far from thetourist trade. The ‘Habanera’ is sultry yethalting, with a seductive quality that might becalled feline. It is only in the final ‘Feria’ thatdaylight streams in, creating a virtual orgy ofviolently festive sensations. In his biography ofthe composer, Burnett James writes, ‘Despitethe warmth and subtle colouration all through,the typical Ravel purity of line and clarity oftexture are preserved in toto. If the heart iswarm, the head is cool, the hand directed withthe skill of a surgeon’s scalpel.’

Compared to Ravel’s Rapsodie espagnole, whichattempts to plumb the Spanish soul, EmmanuelChabrier’s España is a picture postcard – all onthe surface. But what a brilliant surface thisSpanish rhapsody has! Fellow composer FrancisPoulenc called it a ‘vivid portrait of Spanishmusicpainted by a genius’. Chabrier’s genealogy didnot predispose him to appreciation of musicfrom the Iberian peninsula, but his first pianolessons (after those given by his bourgeois

mother) were taught by a Spanish refugeenamed Saporta, and he and his wife touredSpain extensively in 1882. His letters documenttheir experiences there with penetration, and heeven took notes about the music that he heardthere. No surprise, then, that upon his return toParis he began to compose what he called an‘extraordinary fantasia’ inspired by his travels.Originally a piano duet, the orchestral versionwas ready by October 1883, andwas premieredon4November by conductor Charles Lamoureux.It was an immediate success with the public, andChabrier struggled for the last eleven years ofhis life to equal it.

The closest he came was with his Marchejoyeuse (also known as Joyeuse marche). Itdates from 1888, but its origins are in works forpiano called Cortège burlesque and Marchefrançaise, both composed in 1883. Why‘burlesque’? Upon hearing the work, one soonrealizes that the procession is far fromstraightforward, and that its progress isfrequently interrupted by comical digressions –‘in jokes’ of the era, if youwill. French audiencesfrom the 1880s probably appreciated themmore than modern listeners, but this has notpresented the Marche joyeuse from becomingChabrier’s secondmost popular orchestral work.In more recent times, choreographer George

Balanchine helped it along by including it in hisballet Bourrée fantasque – named after anotherwork by Chabrier – for the New York City Ballet.

Bizet’s incidental music to Alphonse Daudet’smelodrama L’Arlésienne is nearly as popular asmusic from his opera Carmen, althoughperformances of Carmen far outnumber thoseof L’Arlésienne. The literal meaning of‘melodrama’ is a serious play in which musicaccompanies the spoken words. When thedramatist and composer aremediocre, the effectcan be embarrassing, but Daudet was a giftedplaywright, and Bizet’s music so excellent that itquickly acquired a life of its own away fromDaudet’s text. And it needed to, if it was tosurvive, because L’Arlésienne was no moreappreciated in 1872 than Carmen would bethree years later. Audiencemembers talked rightover Bizet’s entr’actes and laughed at the tragicscenes. Daudet left the theatre with their noiseringing in his ears and vowed never to write forthe theatre again. (Fortunately, he did.)

As for Bizet, he subsequently arranged fournumbers from his incidental music into anorchestral suite. (The theatre orchestra containedonly 26 players, but Bizet’s arrangement is forfull orchestra.) When it was first presented laterin 1872, it was as successful as the drama wasdisastrous. Three years later, after Bizet’s death,

Ernest Guiraud created a second suite of fournumbers – three from L’Arlésienne and(lackadaisically) a Menuet adapted from La JolieFille de Perth. (Guiraud also was responsible,again after Bizet’s death, for creating the sungrecitatives used in Carmen in place of most ofthe spoken dialogues. Fortunately, theserecitatives have fallen out of fashion in mostinternational opera houses.)

Daudet’s drama is set in Provence, and concerns,as in Carmen, a young man led to his doom bya femme fatale – this time, the eponymous‘woman from Arles’. The peasant Frédéri isdriven to distraction by this woman (who neverappears on the stage), despite the homeyattentions of the innocent Vivette, who plays arole in the melodrama similar to that of Micaëlain Carmen. At length, Frédéri is persuaded tomarry Vivette, but on the eve of his wedding heis cruelly reminded of the woman from Arles,and he drowns himself in despair. At this point,his younger brother, whom everyone in thevillage regarded as a half-wit, regains fullpossession of his intellect, thus taking the placeof Frédéri.

The melody heard at the beginning of the firstsuite is not Bizet’s own, but is the traditional‘March of the Three Kings’. What Bizet doeswith it, however, is entirely his own invention. At

the end of the ‘Farandole’ (assigned by Guiraudto the second suite) the samemarch is combinedwith another melody – again, not original toBizet – to brilliant effect. Another noteworthyfeature of Bizet’s L’Arlésienne music is hisunexpected use of an E flat saxophone torepresent L’Innocent, the nickname given toFrédéri’s younger brother. (This theme appearsin the first suite’s Prélude.) According tobiographer Winton Dean, this music aptlysuggests ‘the fuddled brain and the hiddenserenity of spirit’ belonging to the brother. If theIntermezzo sounds familiar, it is because it hasenjoyed a more lachrymose second life, thanksto an added Latin text, as a heartfeltAgnus Dei.This, however, was not Bizet’s idea!

Many of conductor Jean Morel’s early LPscommand top dollar from today’s collectors. Thiscollection compiles the contents of two of hismost desired titles: a two-record set of Iberia andRapsodie espagnole, and another recordcontaining the two suites by Bizet and the twoshorter works by Chabrier.

Born in France, Morel (1903–75) countedamong his teachers Isidore Philipp, GabrielPierné and Reynaldo Hahn. He established aconnection with the United States early on,teaching at the American Conservatory inFontainebleu between 1921 (when he was just

eighteen!) and 1936. He also conducted theOrchestre National (1936–1939) and theOrchestre Symphonique de Paris (1938). In1939, he emigrated to the United States, wherehe soon secured a faculty position at BrooklynCollege. In 1949, he joined the faculty at theJuilliard School of Music and also conductedtheir orchestra. He remained at Juilliard until1971, and his conducting pupils included JamesLevine and Leonard Slatkin. Morel’s conductingbore many similarities to that of his countrymanPierre Monteux. His style was bright, clear andenergetic, and he always gave themusic’s colourits due.

One of Morel’s biggest successes was his debutat the Metropolitan Opera in 1956. Heconducted a new English-language productionof Offenbach’s La Périchole, which starredPatriceMunsel, Theodor Uppman and Australianactor Cyril Ritchard.Morel conducted at theMetuntil 1971, and also appeared at the New YorkCity Centre Opera, and in opera houses inCentral and South America.

Raymond Tuttle

Recording producers: Ray Minshull (Albéniz, Ravel); Michael Bremner (Chabrier, Bizet)Recording engineer: Kenneth WilkinsonRecording locations: Kingsway Hall, London, UK, September 1958 (Chabrier, Bizet); La Maison de laChimie, Paris, France, September 1959 (Albéniz, Ravel)Cover image: ‘Rodez’ (c.1923) by Paul SignacEloquence series manager: Cyrus Meher-HomjiArt direction: Chilu · www.chilu.comBooklet editor: Bruce Raggatt

480 1305