Release Date: 01 May 2005
Label: Naxos / Naxos Classics
Packaging Type: Jewel Case
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 747313260720
Genres: Classical
Composer/Series: IBERT
Description
Jacques Ibert (1890-1962)Film MusicMacbeth Suite,1948Golgotha Suite,1935Don Quichotte 1933Like his friend and contemporary Arthur Honegger,Jacques Ibert enjoyed in his lifetime a considerablereputation. There is, however, something relativelydisproportionate when we examine the discographyand bibliography of the two composers. Generallylbert's music sounds less \modern than Honegger'sand his brilliant use of orchestral colour makes himrather a companion of Ravel than of Roussel, althoughthis judgement may apply only to the works of Ibert incontemporary repertoire, the Divertissement, Escalesand the Flute Concerto. The rediscovery of the score forMacbeth shows a facet of Ibert that allies him almostwith the avant-garde, contradicting the standard opinionof his style, expressed by some writers, as neverdeveloping throughout his career.Before he devoted himself definitively to music,lbert wanted to become an actor and might havebecome a very talented one, if we may judge fromearlier photographs of the composer. It is clear that acertain dramatic gift found expression in his music, asevinced particularly by the music he wrote for thetheatre. In addition to orchestral and chamber music, hewrote six operas (two serious and four comic), sevenballets, a dramatic cantata, incidental music for sixstage works and four radio scores. His name appears inthe credits of some thirty films and somedocumentaries, but, as in the case of Honegger, thesecontributions are not all full-length scores. Circus is agood example of Ibert's abilities as a composer for bothfilm and ballet, a score commissioned for Gene Kellyin MGM's 1956 production of Invitation to the Dance.This music was his only film score on record since theearly issue of the Quatre chansons de Don Quichotte.For two years Ibert had earned a living for himself byplaying the piano for silent films and by writing, underthe pseudonym of William Berty, popular songs anddance music. Among the French directors whocommissioned film scores from him were MauriceTourneur, Raymond Bernard, Jacques de Baroncelli,Marcel L'Herbier, and Pierre Chenal, for whomHonegger also worked. Curiously, although lbert andHonegger collaborated on two operas, L'Aiglon andLes petites Cardinal, they never worked together on afilm score, while Honegger collaborated with othercomposers. In common with other European filmcomposers of the time, both men insisted onundertaking their own orchestrations.Don QuichotteG. M. Pabst, one of the greatest directors of silent filmsand early talkies, created Don Quichotte for FeodorChaliapin, the famous Russian bass, who had alsocreated the title r??1e in Massenet's opera on the samesubject in 1910. Pabst's 1933 film was to become oneof the classics of the cinema through the director'shighly original and poetic vision, which did much morethan simply transfer to film the great novel of MiguelCervantes. The same work was to play an importantpart in Ibert's later career: in 1935 he composed thechoreographi
Tracklisting
Dariia Lytvishko
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra; Marin Alsop
Alice Di Piazza; Basel Sinfonietta; NDR Bigband; Titus Engel
Anna Alas i Jove; Miquel Villalba
David Childs; Black Dyke Band; Nicholas Childs
Yaqi Yang; Margarita Parsamyan; Robynne Redmon; Minghao Liu; Frank Ragsdale; Kim Josephson; Kevin S
Vilmos Csikos; Olivier Lechardeur; Manon Lamaison
Tomas Cotik; Martingale Ensemble; Ken Selden
