IDAGIO | Dukas: Polyeucte Overture & L'apprenti sorcier - Roussel: Le festin de l'araignée 7318599924328

Featuring

Pascal Rophé
Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire
Paul Dukas
Albert Roussel

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Composition History

Paul Dukas's "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" was inspired by a ballad written a century earlier, in 1797, by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, a renowned German writer.

Cultural Impact

Paul Dukas's "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" has remained a concert staple and famously inspired Walt Disney Studios for the soundtrack of their 1940 film "Fantasia."

Composer Biography

Paul Dukas and Albert Roussel, two French composers featured on this album, both consistently revised their works, often destroying scores they deemed superfluous, in pursuit of clarity and purity of style.

Composition History

Albert Roussel's ballet "Le Festin de l'Araignée" (The Spider's Feast) was commissioned by patron Jacques Rouché, who later became a notable director of the Paris Opéra for three decades.

Notable Performances

The premiere of Paul Dukas's "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" on May 18, 1897, conducted by the composer himself, was an unprecedented triumph.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Albert Roussel, a pantheist, rejected figurative and programmatic music, instead developing his own unique colors and using bold harmonies that often approached atonality.

Performer Biography

Pascal Rophé, the conductor on this album, has received numerous awards for his extensive discography, including the 2018 Gramophone Award for best contemporary recording.