Orchestral Works Vol.2 -Symphony No, 2, etc : R.Gamba / Iceland Symphony Orchestra

Vincent d'Indy: Orchestral Works volume 2

Symphony No. 2 in B flat, op. 57
Karadec Suite, op. 34
Tableaux de voyage, op. 36

Iceland Symphony Orchestra
Rumon Gamba, conductor

Digital Recording: 09/2008

Symphony No.2 is of particular interest as there have been very few recordings of this major work. Completed in 1903, the work is inspired by D'Indy's mentor, Cesar Franck and is highly ambitious in its philosophical scope. This is particularly notable in the symbolic importance of cyclic ideas recurring between movements and the classical values of formal structure and tonal harmony. The result is a large-scale romantic four-movement symphony dedicated to the memory of his friend Ernest Chausson.

The three pieces that make up the Karadec Suite Op.34 were written as incidental music for the long forgotten play Karadec by Andre Alexander. Critic Francisque Sarcey, writing in Le Temps, noted of d'Indy's score, "…we were held by it and genuinely moved...." The score was dedicated to Julien Tiersot, a fellow Franck pupil and authority on French folk song. Set in Brittany, Karadec gave d'Indy license to make liberal use of Breton folk song.

Tableaux de Voyages Op.36 was a result of a trip that d'Indy had made to Bayreuth in August 1888 to hear Wagner's Meistersinger and Parsifal. D'Indy realized his impressions of this trip as a set of thirteen piano pieces: Tableaux de Voyage Op. 33, Treize pieces pour piano. He subsequently orchestrated six of the thirteen pieces, which are performed here and are a fine example of D'Indy's genius.