Netherlands RPO, Jean Fournet - Paul Dukas: L'apprenti Sorcier; La Peri; Symphony In C (1993)

A warm aureole creamily crowns the sound image. The Fanfare has a strangely British chivalry while the Poème Dansé is astonishingly similar in its contours and treatment to the Bax of Fand, Nympholept and Spring Fire with a dash of Ravel and some echoes with Roussel’s most impressionistic symphony – the First. The atmosphere is rhapsodic, glimmering, sultry and romantic – not markedly oriental. It’s not as if, despite the overlapping subject matter, it is all that stylistically close to Rimsky’s Antar. The warm halo around the sound provides a mildly blurred impressionistic focus. I remember harder edges in the never reissued Boulez version once coupled on CBS with the Roussel Third Symphony. It comes as no surprise to learn that it was written for the Ballets Russes. The overly critical Dukas was on the point of destroying the score. We can be glad that he didn’t. The Symphony has a more Franckian optimistic-ecstatic surge. It is in the same ‘fleuve’ as the symphonies by Franck, Chausson (in which you can hear Fournet on Regis RRC1328) and D’Indy (No. 2). The Sorcerer’s Apprentice sounds a degree more analytical than the other works – every strand can be relished in Technicolor. Wonderfully characterful playing and tempo-shaping at 2:13-2:50. Real care has been taken and this is exalted by an imagination unremittingly engaged.

The anonymous note which is in English only is a good complement to this generous selection. If you want more Dukas then try the Chandos double.

Jean Fournet (1913-2008) seems in total and illuminating sympathy with this music. Apart from the fact that I hanker after more ample string tone this is all very eager and satisfying. Probably the best ever Sorcerer’s Apprentice – Stokowski included.

Review by Rob Barnett, MusicWeb-international.com

The appearance of this disc was well timed to mark the eightieth birthday on April 18th of Jean Fournet who, after a dozen years at the Opera-Comique, was Musical Director of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic throughout the 1960s and 1970s. The magnificently sonorous introductory fanfare to La Péri immediately makes it plain that he is able to draw the best from his old orchestra, who play splendidly throughout for him. If one were tempted to ask whether, with 30 versions already in the current catalogue, another Apprenti sorcier was needed, the answer is supplied in this magisterial, deliberately but finely paced reading. Familiarity with the piece should not lessen our admiration for its superb scoring: this is a vivid performance, with a positively awesome return of the sorcerer after his apprentice's mayhem.

Dukas was so excessively self-critical of his compositions that he destroyed many before they could be published: he would also have cast away the exotic ''dance poem'' La Péri had it not been for the agonized intervention of his friends. It was premiered in 1912, though not by Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, for which it had been intended: it is a score of sumptuous coloration illustrating the legend of a Péri who by her seductive dancing regains the flower of immortality from a Persian king who had snatched it from her. A highly poetic work: its huge climax is admirably captured in this spacious recording.

It is certainly time we had a new recording of Dukas's only surviving symphony (a second was discarded), for it is nearly 20 years since Martinon's performance (EMI, 7/74), musically excellent as that was. This is the earliest of the three works on this disc, and, being contemporary with Debussy's Nocturnes, points the dichotomy in French music in the last decade of the nineteenth century. The vigour of the well-reasoned first movement and the excitable finale (both of which reveal the influence of Franck) is offset by the pensive lyricism of the central Andante: though the symphony is over-extended, it is full of invention. Terrific playing and recording. Interestingly, the booklet analyses the structure of all the works and reinforces this by intermediate cues on the disc.

Review by Lionel Salter, Gramophone

Exact Audio Copy V1.1 from 23. June 2015

EAC extraction logfile from 25. December 2015, 21:51

The Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Netherlands & Jean Fournet / Paul Dukas - L'Apprenti sorcier, La Peri, Symphony in C Major

Used drive : PLEXTOR CD-R PREMIUM2 Adapter: 5 ID: 1

Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No

Read offset correction : 30
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : Yes
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Installed external ASPI interface
Gap handling : Appended to previous track

Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 896 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\Program Files\Exact Audio Copy\Flac\flac.exe
Additional command line options : -6 -V -T "ARTIST=%artist%" -T "TITLE=%title%" -T "ALBUM=%albumtitle%" -T "DATE=%year%" -T "PERFORMER=%albuminterpret%" -T "TRACKNUMBER=%tracknr%" -T "TOTALTRACKS=%numtracks%" -T "GENRE=%genre%" -T "COMPOSER=%composer%" -T "ALBUMARTIST=%albumartist%" -T "ALBUM ARTIST=%albumartist%" -T "COMMENT=EAC Secure Mode, Test & Copy, AccurateRip, FLAC -6" %source%


TOC of the extracted CD

Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.00 | 2:32.40 | 0 | 11439
2 | 2:32.40 | 19:28.68 | 11440 | 99107
3 | 22:01.33 | 14:15.27 | 99108 | 163259
4 | 36:16.60 | 15:19.30 | 163260 | 232214
5 | 51:36.15 | 11:20.18 | 232215 | 283232
6 | 62:56.33 | 12:04.27 | 283233 | 337559


Track 1

Filename D:\EAC extraction\01 - Fanfare pour preceder La Peri.wav

Pre-gap length 0:00:02.00

Peak level 68.9 %
Extraction speed 1.8 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 11A4E91C
Copy CRC 11A4E91C
Accurately ripped (confidence 4) [D690B2B7] (AR v2)
Copy OK

Track 2

Filename D:\EAC extraction\02 - La Peri.wav

Pre-gap length 0:00:02.70

Peak level 98.0 %
Extraction speed 1.9 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 59E45455
Copy CRC 59E45455
Accurately ripped (confidence 4) [747770D9] (AR v2)
Copy OK

Track 3

Filename D:\EAC extraction\03 - Symphony in C Major - I. Allegro non troppo vivace, ma con fuoco.wav

Pre-gap length 0:00:07.73

Peak level 95.8 %
Extraction speed 1.9 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 1AC6A14B
Copy CRC 1AC6A14B
Accurately ripped (confidence 4) [B412AF3D] (AR v2)
Copy OK

Track 4

Filename D:\EAC extraction\04 - Symphony in C Major - II. Andante espressivo e sostenuto.wav

Pre-gap length 0:00:06.47

Peak level 78.9 %
Extraction speed 1.9 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 4C07D3DF
Copy CRC 4C07D3DF
Accurately ripped (confidence 4) [90994B8F] (AR v2)
Copy OK

Track 5

Filename D:\EAC extraction\05 - Symphony in C Major - III. Allegro spiritoso.wav

Pre-gap length 0:00:06.60

Peak level 95.9 %
Extraction speed 1.9 X
Track quality 99.9 %
Test CRC 60983691
Copy CRC 60983691
Accurately ripped (confidence 4) [30F0FDAF] (AR v2)
Copy OK

Track 6

Filename D:\EAC extraction\06 - L'Apprenti sorcier.wav

Pre-gap length 0:00:08.20

Peak level 100.0 %
Extraction speed 1.9 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 5BF64059
Copy CRC 5BF64059
Accurately ripped (confidence 3) [F1C31431] (AR v2)
Copy OK


All tracks accurately ripped

No errors occurred

End of status report

==== Log checksum B013BF6E56F542B9216ED2FDC119420ADDB6DEE8A8134BB9E459624F65D3E0B4 ====

foobar2000 1.2 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1
log date: 2016-01-19 21:03:07

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Analyzed: The Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Netherlands & Jean Fournet / Paul Dukas - L'Apprenti sorcier, La Peri, Symphony in C Major
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

DR Peak RMS Duration Track
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
DR11 -3.22 dB -19.55 dB 2:33 01-Fanfare pour preceder La Peri
DR16 -0.17 dB -22.60 dB 19:29 02-La Peri - Poeme danse en un tableau
DR14 -0.37 dB -19.42 dB 14:15 03-Symphony in C Major - I. Allegro non troppo vivace, ma con fuoco
DR16 -2.05 dB -25.04 dB 15:19 04-Symphony in C Major - II. Andante espressivo e sostenuto
DR13 -0.36 dB -18.18 dB 11:20 05-Symphony in C Major - III. Allegro spiritoso
DR16 0.00 dB -21.79 dB 12:04 06-L'Apprenti sorcier - Scherzo d'apres une ballade de Goethe
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Number of tracks: 6
Official DR value: DR14

Samplerate: 44100 Hz
Channels: 2
Bits per sample: 16
Bitrate: 601 kbps
Codec: FLAC
================================================================================