Released November 2024 | Label: Naxos
Auber: Overtures, Vol.7
Daniel F.E. Auber
Dario Salvi, conductor
Janácek Philharmonic Ostrava
This seventh volume of Auber’s overtures features the ‘fairy opera’ Le Cheval de bronze (1835). The overture expresses the magical and mystical dynamism of the story, while the 1857 opéra-ballet version presents an interpolated dance sequence, exemplifying some exotic chinoiserie. Poetic and graceful, Le Lac des fées was highly regarded in Germany, and proved influential on Wagner who saw it in Paris. Marco Spada evinces some of Auber’s most accomplished and sustained mood setting. The overture to Le Cheval de bronze is also heard here in the arrangement by Engelbert Humperdinck (Das eherne Pferd, 1889)..
Reviews
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Revista Ritmo
★★★★ “As a curious experiment, the program ends with the opening to Das eherne Pferd, which is none other than an arrangement of the opening overture to The Bronze Horse. This arrangement, created by the German composer Engelbert Humperdinck (1854-1921) for a posthumous revival/adaptation of the opera, which took place in Karlsruhe in 1889, consisted primarily of a re-orchestration in a very Germanic style, considerably strengthening the wind instrument section, which gives this new version a certain Wagnerian touch, especially considering that Humperdinck was Wagner's collaborator and assistant in Bayreuth.” [Original in Spanish]
Salustio Alvarado - March 2025
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WTJU
“The Janacek Philharmonic Ostrava is in fine form here. Under Salvi’s direction, they play with a light-hearted elegance fitting the fairy operas. And they can also deliver some dramatic thundering when necessary. Including additional music from the operas has slowed Salvi’s traversal of the overtures. But these recordings are about the journey, not the destination. “
Ralph Greaves - November 2024
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Music Web International
“This new recording from conductor Dario Salvi adopts, in contrast, a lighter, airier approach, presumably aiming to achieve a more historically informed and authentic outcome. By carefully crafting a more transparent orchestral balance and adopting rather brisker tempi, Salvi invests Auber’s score with a much more appropriate sense of music that’s somewhat akin to skittish Rossini. I love the way in which he does that.”
Rob Maynard - February 2025