This record's presentation is exceptionally confusing. The LP has only a few bands and there are no breaks between most of the items. The back of the LP (see below) is opaque about the contents. When combined with my rudimentary command of French, I did have to struggle to figure out the various items. But I think I did straighten them out at last, and have separated the contents into 44 tracks for the download.
The autograph on the back cover below is by Gérard Philipe, a wonderful actor who died very young. Also in the cast are TNP director Jean Vilar, Huguette Forge, Maria Casares, and Monique Chaumette. The singer is André Schlesser. The orchestra is conducted by Serge Baudo.
The sound is good, except for two very brief patches. Hope you enjoy this unusual item - the music is quite worthwhile.
12 comments:
Thank you Buster for doing your own Jarre tribute. I had never heard this before. Thanks again!
Thanks Buster!
By the way, check out here...
Must be the same post but on the 3 CD's (Milan).
See this: September 16, 2009 2:50 AM !
Thanks again Buster!!!
Hola no se puesde descargar, gracias por su trabajo de ayudar a la cultura,
manuel - Déjame ver si puedo encontrar los archivos para ti.
Merci for this, Buster. These small pieces hardly hint at the sweep of his film scores but they are all ingenious and well-adapted to their use in the theater. He definitely didn't just phone it in which, given the state of the French telephone system at the time, is just as well.
A couple of small quibbles:
Is there a mysterious track 03 that has been suppressed on the orders of the Illuminati?
Mme. Forge's name is spelled "Huguette." I know, I know. I, of all people, correcting somebody else's spelling!
All in all, a fascinating document and the autograph makes it the collector's item to end all collector's items.
I suspected that it might have been pieced together from tapes of live performances but, having heard it, it does seem to have been specially recorded in-studio. That indicates that the TNP team valued his music.
A few words about the performers:
Gérard Philipe (1922-1959) is most likely, though still unlikely, to be know to Americans as his matinée-star good looks lead to a big movie career (in France.) In "Fanfan la tulipe," he out-Errol Flynns Errol Flynn. You can find "Les grands manoevres" on YouTube. His recordings of "The Little Prince" and "Peter and the Wolf" have never gone out of print (in France.) He was also definitely of "la gauche," so you can also find him on YouTube intoning Marx and Engels.
A swift-moving cancer killed him within months while still in his thirties, the sort of tragedy that French tabloids dredge up for a whoops on a yearly basis.
Jean Vilar (1912-1971) will mean nothing on these shores but he was the most important actor/stage director/theater director of his time, especially after the death of Louis Jouvet. He did not actually found the TNP but his years there and at the Festival d'Avignon set the agenda to this day. His movie career was negligible. A few snippets on YouTube barely give a clue. I hope that INA has preserved more.
Huguette Forge was also a stage actress with little interest in the movies. She may be glimpsed in Chabrol's dark-dark-dark film of the serial killer "Landru."
Monique Chaumette is, AFAIK, still among us and is the widow of Philipe Noiret, in many of whose films she had supporting roles.
André Schlesser was a singer/guitarist of Roma AKA "gypsy" origin whose career was largely in the cabarets but who Vilar hired from time to time.
And now we come to Maria Casarès (1922-1996.) It is hard to place her in American terms. She was one of the most dominant stage actresses in France for decades, despite having a bit of a Spanish accent. She also had a long affair with Albert Camus which gets dredged up endlessly by French scandal mags.
She was the kind of actress who threw herself openly and emotionally into her roles and was a good match for Medea and Phaedra. Definitely not a light comedienne. Like Vilar, she didn't like the movies, though she does make a striking Death in Jean Cocteau's "Orphée." The closest I can come to her (and still not an English-language actress) is Anna Magnani.
Charlot,
It's always a pleasure to read your illuminating and charming comments!
Back when I was a young cinephile (this was a LONG time ago), I saw María Casares in Les Enfants du paradis and Orphée and Gérard Philipe in Les liaisons dangereuses.
Thanks for letting me know about the missing "u" in Huguette and the missing track in the download. Here is a link to the wayward track no. 3:
https://mega.nz/file/iEtEmS5b#sjk6-PA7l4gWJm8h1tW7BrEDVQaaHJlifyjwhr-dhuM
Remastered version (including missing track no. 3):
https://mega.nz/file/KUlwVCDC#yxMDtW0TOpItfHclKeLpWdLMH-h3Yb5nZnSjmJcqaHE
I notice that I forgot to mention the Gérard Philipe film most likely to be known to Americans (at least those who watch classic French films): Max Ophüls' "La ronde."
And since the errant Track 03 contains fanfares for Lorenzaccio, I should mention that Alfred de Musset's very long play was performed by the TNP at the Avignon Festival in the Palace of the Popes, starring and (because Vilar was temporarily hospitalized) also directed by Philipe in 1952. Jarre's music is used. A radio transmission of this production (with some commentary which appears to have been added later) is on YouTube but it is audio-only and there are no subtitles so polish up that high school french.
Charlot - In my case it was college French, at which I did not excel.
I also notice that I failed to mention the conductor Serge Baudo (1927-) who is apparently still living, though probably retired. His career seems to have been entirely in French-speaking countries.
I did not know, until checking the usual sources that is a nephew of the renowned cellist Paul Tortelier.
For decades, he was a prolific presence in recording studios in many genres, even soundtracks for Jacques Cousteau and always excellent.
Charlot - I did not know that about Baudo and Tortelier. I have a number of Baudo's recordings, including IIFC Honegger with the Czech PO.
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