Uploaded November 2015 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
- Composer: Albert Charles Paul Marie Roussel (5 April 1869 -- 23 August 1937)
- Orchestra: Toulouse Capitole Orchestra
- Choir: Toulouse Capitole Chorus
- Conductor: Michel Plasson
- Soloists: {Movement III} Nicolai Gedda (tenor), Nathalie Stutzmann (alto), José Van Dam (baritone)
- Year of recording: 1987
Évocations, for soloists, chorus & orchestra, Op. 15, written in 1910-1911.
00:00 - I. Les Dieux Dans I'Ombre Des Cavernes (The gods in the shadow of the caverns)
13:21 - II. La Ville Rose (The Pink City)
22:34 - III. Aux Bords Du Fleuve Sacre (On the Shores of the Sacred River)
This symphonic triptych of lovely Impressionist textures was composed in the years 1910-1911 and reflects the composer's profound experience with Eastern cultures while in the French Navy in his early years (he had also made a special study of mathematics in the Naval School).
- The instrumental first part, "Les Dieux dans l'ombre des cavernes" (The gods in the shadow of the caverns) is a sweeping impressionist tone poem on the emotional impact of the Hindu statues and other representations in the cave temples, especially that of Lord Shiva in the Ellora cave. The rays of light through the jungle and the mysterious darkness of the caves soon change from a shimmering transparent texture to overwhelmingly dramatic melodicism that expresses awe in the face of the thousands of years and profundity of Indian culture and philosophy.
- The instrumental second part, "La ville rose" (The rosy city) expresses varying images of a bustling city, of festival dances, of the rays of the setting sun, and other images deliberately left to the imagination of the listener.
- The third part, "Aux bords du fleuve sacré" (On the shores of the sacred river) adds a chorus and three soloists who employ the text by M.D. Calvocoressi to describe the life-giving force of the holy river, the temples, the lotus blossoms, the lovers wandering on the banks.
Not often performed, this work is certainly as compelling as the works of Debussy and Ravel within this same period, and features some marvelous orchestrations.
My apologies for the strange 'mash' of different scores, I started using a quatre mains version, where I constantly had to choose between the primo and secondo parts because they were printed on different pages, and for the last movement I used a (diminished) full score, so one can read along with the choir parts of this movement.
- Composer: Albert Charles Paul Marie Roussel (5 April 1869 -- 23 August 1937)
- Orchestra: Toulouse Capitole Orchestra
- Choir: Toulouse Capitole Chorus
- Conductor: Michel Plasson
- Soloists: {Movement III} Nicolai Gedda (tenor), Nathalie Stutzmann (alto), José Van Dam (baritone)
- Year of recording: 1987
Évocations, for soloists, chorus & orchestra, Op. 15, written in 1910-1911.
00:00 - I. Les Dieux Dans I'Ombre Des Cavernes (The gods in the shadow of the caverns)
13:21 - II. La Ville Rose (The Pink City)
22:34 - III. Aux Bords Du Fleuve Sacre (On the Shores of the Sacred River)
This symphonic triptych of lovely Impressionist textures was composed in the years 1910-1911 and reflects the composer's profound experience with Eastern cultures while in the French Navy in his early years (he had also made a special study of mathematics in the Naval School).
- The instrumental first part, "Les Dieux dans l'ombre des cavernes" (The gods in the shadow of the caverns) is a sweeping impressionist tone poem on the emotional impact of the Hindu statues and other representations in the cave temples, especially that of Lord Shiva in the Ellora cave. The rays of light through the jungle and the mysterious darkness of the caves soon change from a shimmering transparent texture to overwhelmingly dramatic melodicism that expresses awe in the face of the thousands of years and profundity of Indian culture and philosophy.
- The instrumental second part, "La ville rose" (The rosy city) expresses varying images of a bustling city, of festival dances, of the rays of the setting sun, and other images deliberately left to the imagination of the listener.
- The third part, "Aux bords du fleuve sacré" (On the shores of the sacred river) adds a chorus and three soloists who employ the text by M.D. Calvocoressi to describe the life-giving force of the holy river, the temples, the lotus blossoms, the lovers wandering on the banks.
Not often performed, this work is certainly as compelling as the works of Debussy and Ravel within this same period, and features some marvelous orchestrations.
My apologies for the strange 'mash' of different scores, I started using a quatre mains version, where I constantly had to choose between the primo and secondo parts because they were printed on different pages, and for the last movement I used a (diminished) full score, so one can read along with the choir parts of this movement.
