Dukas: L’apprenti sorcier; La Péri; Symphony in C minorRTÉ NSO/Jean-Luc Tingaud | Album Review

Dukas Symphony in C, The Sorcerer's Apprentice, La Péri
    
Artist: RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, Jean-Luc Tingaud
Genre: Classical
Label: Naxos

Paul Dukas (1865-1935) is a composer whose fate demonstrates that a single masterpiece is enough to seal a lasting reputation. The popularity of his Sorcerer's Apprentice has never dimmed since he conducted its première in May 1897. The highly self-critical Frenchman is partly to blame, as he destroyed quite an amount of his work. What he left behind is of consistently high quality. The atmospheric 1911 poème-dansé La Péri, to which he added a wonderfully exotic fanfare a year later, is his last surviving orchestral work. The Symphony in C minor has obvious Franckian features, but is light, without the clotted gravity that can characterise Franck himself. The RTÉ NSO under Jean-Luc Tingaud offers cultured, nicely-detailed readings. url.ie/af6o

Michael Dervan

Michael Dervan

Michael Dervan is a music critic and Irish Times contributor