Oratorio de Noël
Camille Saint-Saëns
The rare Oratorio by Saint Saëns with the singers and musicians of the Orchestre de chambre de Paris conducted by Thomas Hengelbrock.
Dates
Orchestre de chambre de Paris
Thomas Hengelbrock | direction
Isobel Anthony | soprano
Sofia Anisimova | mezzo-soprano
Amandine Portelli | alto
Bergsvein Toverud | tenor
Clemens Frank | baritone
(Singers in residence at the Académie de l'Opéra national de Paris)
Choir of the Lycées La Fontaine et Lamartine (Paris), François Ier (Fontainebleau)
First part of the programme
Gounod Symphony No. 1
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Duration : 1 H 10
About
Gounod and Saint-Saëns were born some fifteen years apart and shared a mutual respect. Gounod was delighted when Saint-Saëns eventually achieved the recognition he deserved in 1883, writing: “He is simply a thoroughbred musician: he draws and paints with the free hand of a master; if the definition of being oneself is not imitating anyone else, then that fits him perfectly.” One of the influences for the Christmas Oratorio by Saint-Saëns, premiered in 1858 at the église de la Madeleine church where he was the resident organist, was Gounod’s Mass for St Cecilia, written a few years earlier. Symphony No 1, which was composed at around the same time, showcases Gounod’s distinctive talent as a writer of melodies, while also expressing an energy and sense of drama that would subsequently bear fruit in his operas. Hengelbrock reacquaints himself with a familiar composer whose Faust he conducted to great acclaim in 2022.
Production Orchestre de chambre de Paris
En collaboration avec le Palazzetto Bru Zane – Centre de musique romantique française et l’Académie de l’Opéra national de Paris