Inghelbrecht Conducts Fauré

There has been quite a selection of recordings by the French conductor Désiré-Émile Inghelbrecht appearing on the classical newsgroups lately, so I thought I would do my part by transferring this recording of Fauré's surpassingly beautiful Requiem, which I had at hand.

Inghelbrecht, who died in 1965, had little reputation outside France, although his recordings did circulate in other countries - I have several of them on US labels. This recording of the Fauré Requiem and other choral works by that composer comes from 1955, when the conductor was 75.

D. E. Inghelbrecht

It is not entirely a success, in truth, both as a performance and as a recording. I have not been able to track down where the recording of the Requiem was made, but it sounds like a church - a church with  truck idling outside the windows. The balances can be awry as well - the first entrance of the male voices sounds like they are outside the church and down the block (perhaps they were looking for the idling truck making all the racket).

Inghelbrecht was a dry-eyed conductor, and he did not let the emotional temperature get too high in this performance. The rendition of "Pie Jesu" is much too fast, whether at the choice of the soloist or conductor. (Or maybe the idling engine was their waiting car?)

The other pieces are better done, seemingly in a different location, and the Madrigal and Pavane (with its optional choral part intact) have not been reissued, as far as I can tell.

Although the Requiem is attributed to the Champs-Élysées orchestra, I believe that is a pseudonym, and the actual musicians are from the Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion Française.