{"id":36271,"date":"2016-04-16T13:05:02","date_gmt":"2016-04-16T17:05:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/?p=36271"},"modified":"2016-04-16T10:56:30","modified_gmt":"2016-04-16T14:56:30","slug":"record-keeping-honegger-and-ibert-laiglon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2016\/04\/16\/record-keeping-honegger-and-ibert-laiglon\/","title":{"rendered":"RECORD KEEPING | Honegger & Ibert: L’Aiglon (Live in Montreal, 2015)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"L'Aiglon
L’Aiglon | Arthur Honegger (Composer), Jacques Ibert (Composer), Kent Nagano (Conductor), Orchestre symphonique de Montr\u00e9al (Orchestra), Anne-Catherine Gillet (Performer), Marc Barrard (Performer), \u00c9tienne Dupuis (Performer), Philippe Sly (Performer), Marie-Nicole Lemieux (Performer), H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Guillemette (Performer)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Arthur Honegger & Jacques Ibert: L\u2019Aiglon (The Eaglet). Anne-Catherine Gillet, sop (L\u2019Aiglon). Marc Barrard, bar (Flambeau). \u00c9tienne Dupuis, bar (Metternich). OSM Chorus. Orchestre symphonique de Montr\u00e9al (OSM)\/Kent Nagano. Decca 478 9502 (2 CDs). Total Time: 92.29.<\/b><\/p>\n

I suspect that this new recording will come as a complete surprise to most music-lovers. Who knew that two leading 20th-century French composers had collaborated on an opera? In fact, Honegger and Ibert had done just that. There was even a recording (incomplete) of <\/span>L\u2019Aiglon<\/span><\/i> (The Eaglet) <\/span><\/i>made in the LP era (1956), but it was never re-released on CD.<\/span><\/p>\n

Obscure pieces do turn up from time to time; not all are notable, but this one is a genuine discovery \u2014 or re-discovery if you will. The libretto, based on a play by Edmond Rostand \u2013 the man who wrote <\/span>Cyrano de Bergerac<\/span><\/i> \u2013 is excellent, and the music is superb. To top it off, we have a performance that makes the best possible case for the opera.<\/span><\/p>\n

L\u2019Aiglon<\/span><\/i> premiered (1937) in Monte Carlo. The \u201cEaglet\u201d of the title was Napoleon\u2019s only son, Napoleon II. When his father was removed from power in 1815, the young man was sent to the court of Austria and given the title, Duke of Reichstadt. The opera deals with the Napoleon II\u2019s dreams of continuing his father\u2019s work of making France the dominant power in Europe. Ultimately, his dreams come to nothing, and the opera ends with his death at the age of 21.<\/span><\/p>\n

Apparently, Ibert wrote Acts I and V of the opera and Honegger composed Acts II and IV. They both worked on Act II. While the opera was not overtly political, its celebration of French nationalism \u2014 it even quotes French revolutionary songs and \u201cLa Marseillaise\u201d \u2014 meant that it would be unacceptable to the German occupation authorities during World War II.<\/span><\/p>\n

An interesting feature of the opera is that the role of Napoleon II\/Duke of Reichstadt is given to a soprano, making it another in a long tradition of memorable trouser roles ranging from Cherubino to Octavian. In this performance, Anne-Catherine Gillet is magnificent as the troubled young man. She sings beautifully and encompasses a vast range of expression in her portrayal. Marc Barrard as Flambeau and Etienne Dupuis as Metternich are equally convincing.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ibert\u2019s ballet music from the beginning of Act III is especially memorable. This is Viennese waltz music, with a deliciously melancholy quiet section repeated several times over. This nine-minute waltz sequence deserves to have a separate life as a concert piece.<\/span><\/p>\n

Honegger\u2019s quite different music for the \u201cEaglet\u2019s\u201d battlefield delusions in Act IV is both imaginative and powerful, especially in its use of the chorus. Some of this music was taken from the score he had composed for Abel Gance\u2019s 1927 film, <\/span>Napol\u00e9on.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

A fair criticism could be made that the opera begins as operetta and ends as tragedy. The charm of the first three acts is almost totally absent in Acts IV and V. On the other hand, one could argue that this juxtaposition of styles accurately represents the conflict between the outer and inner lives of the ill-fated \u201cEaglet,\u201d Napoleon II\/Duke of Reichstadt.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kent Nagano conducts <\/span>L\u2019Aiglon<\/span><\/i> with a sure sense of style and colour, and the Decca engineers have given the performance excellent reproduction. Credit should also be given to the superior acoustical qualities of the OSM\u2019s home, Maison symphonique.<\/span><\/p>\n

Honegger & Ibert: L’Aiglon (Live in Montreal, 2015) <\/span><\/strong>is available at\u00a0Amazon.com<\/a>\u00a0and iTunes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

#LUDWIGVAN<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Follow\u00a0Musical Toronto on Facebook<\/a><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>for the latest classical and opera news, funny stuff, and an insider POV.<\/span><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Who knew that two leading 20th-century French composers had collaborated on an opera? Honegger & Ibert: L’Aiglon (Live in Montreal with l’Orchestre symphonique de Montr\u00e9al) <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":36272,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5723,77,5739,51,52],"tags":[6096,5898,4485,2542,5850],"yst_prominent_words":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/04\/aigloncd.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-9r1","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36271"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36271"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36271\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36278,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36271\/revisions\/36278"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36271"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=36271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}