Berlioz: Nuits D'Ete (Les) / Chausson: Poeme De L'Amour Et De La Mer / Dukas: La Peri

Featuring

Jean-Claude Casadesus
Elsa Maurus
Orchestre National de Lille
Ernest Chausson
Paul Dukas
Hector Berlioz

Did you know?

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Composer Biography

Hector Berlioz initially studied medicine at his father's insistence but eventually abandoned it to pursue music.

Composer Biography

Paul Dukas, a friend of Debussy and pupil of Bizet's friend Guiraud, was known for his acute critical sense, which led him to destroy many of his own compositions.

Cultural Impact

Paul Dukas is popularly known for his symphonic scherzo, The Sorcerer's Apprentice, which was choreographed as a ballet in 1916 by Fokine.

Recording & Production

This album features two ravishing 19th-century French song cycles and one of Dukas' finest orchestral works, La péri, a dance poem based on a Persian legend.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Berlioz's literary interests are evident in his songs and choral works, including Les nuits d'été, which sets verses by his friend and poet Théophile Gautier.

Composer Biography

Ernest Chausson, though trained as a lawyer, never practiced, instead dedicating himself to music after failing to win the prestigious Prix de Rome in 1881.

Composition History

Berlioz's Les nuits d'été was originally written for mezzo-soprano or tenor and piano, with the orchestral version of some songs created later at a publisher's suggestion.