MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

REVIEW


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Chandos recordings
All Chandos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 

cover image

alternatively
CD: MDT AmazonUK AmazonUS
Sound Samples & Downloads

Georges BIZET (1838-1875)
Clovis et Clothilde - Cantate à trios voix (1857) [34:26]
Te Deum (1858) [18:12]
Katarina Jovanovic (soprano); Philippe Do (tenor); Mark Schnaible (bass); Choeur Régional Nord - Pas-de-Calais; Orchestre National de Lille/Jean-Claude Casadesus
rec. Auditorium du Nouveau Siècle, Lille, France 6-9 July 2009
text and translations available on the Naxos website
NAXOS 8.572270 [52:38]

Experience Classicsonline

Despite the delightful Symphony in C, which is even earlier than the works on this disc, it would be an exaggeration to regard Bizet as some kind of infant genius after the manner of Mendelssohn or Mozart. He had to learn his trade as a composer, and the music on this disc demonstrates him doing this, producing interesting and entertaining - if hardly original - music in the process.

Clovis et Clothilde was his second entry for the Prix de Rome. His first attempt in 1856 gained him the second prize but in 1857 he was awarded the Grand Prix de Rome giving him a stipend and the opportunity to study in Rome. The text, by Amédee Burion, is set as a series of recitatives, arias and ensembles telling the story of the conversion of King Clovis to Christianity though his wife Clothilde and Bishop Remigius (Rémy in the French text). It must have been hard for any of those taking part to take much interest in a banal and poorly written libretto and a story which scarcely lent itself to music, so it is unsurprising that essentially Bizet’s work is for the most part little more than pleasant and competently written, largely in the operatic style of the period. I enjoyed hearing it but could not recall clearly any section of it afterwards. It was first revived in 1988 but has had few performances or recordings since that time.

The Te Deum was written in Rome as one of the pieces which winners of the prize were expected to send back to Paris. However given that the composer severely mangled the text he cannot have been surprised that it was regarded as falling outside the liturgical form which had been expected of him. It was first published in 1971 and now occupies a place on the outer fringes of the choral repertoire. At the same time I am not surprised that when choruses do get the chance to sing it they do very much enjoy it, or so I am told, as it is full of varied and tuneful music. The first movement opens with a splendidly vulgar four square tune which also ends the work, and the rest is much more memorable than the earlier Cantata.

The chorus and orchestra do all they can for these two works but I regret that they are let down by soloists who are barely adequate. The bass is the best, albeit lacking in much subtlety. The tenor lacks much in the way of grace or power but his efforts do not get in the way of the effect of the music. It is the soprano, Katarina Jovanovic, who is the biggest disappointment. I gather from the notes that she has sung such heavy parts as Leonora, Amelia and Aida and it may be that the heavy and disfiguring vibrato that affects much of her singing, especially in the Te Deum, is a result of taking these on too early in her career - she is described as a “young singer” on the cover. Whatever the reason for much of the time her singing fails to do justice to music which benefits from greater grace and more precision over pitching.

The inherent interest in these works is great, and overall the defects in the performances are not enough to prevent an appreciation of their merits, but it is a pity that unsatisfactory casting lets down an otherwise intriguing coupling.

John Sheppard

see also review by Ian Lace

 

 

 

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools






Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.