Morel Conducts Bizet and Chabrier

French music, particularly of the lighter variety, is not well represented on symphonic programs these days, with the exception of Debussy and Ravel. I took a look at the Cleveland Orchestra's upcoming season and there is exactly one piece from France, Debussy's Images.

Works from French composers (and those of other nationalities) such as those on today's LP are generally corralled into pops programs, which to me consigns their melodic and orchestral genius to a lesser status.

Be that as it may, this 1958 LP is a wonderfully entertaining example of music that is no longer heard very often in concert halls. It contains superior works from Georges Bizet (1838-75) and Emmanuel Chabrier (1841-94).

From the former, we have his two L'Arlésienne suites, from the latter his Rapsodie España and Joyeuse marche. (To be fair, España does at times lead off symphonic programs because it is an orchestral showpiece.)

Jean Morel

This post also gives us an opportunity to again explore the recorded legacy of a fine conductor, Jean Morel, who in this program is leading the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. He has been heard here previously in Albéniz and Ravel, Tchaikovsky, and a Mozart concerto with Rosina Lhévinne. (The latter is newly remastered.)

Most of today's album is devoted to Bizet's L'Arlésienne suites. These atmospheric and enchanting pieces were taken from the incidental music the composer wrote for Alphonse Daudet's play of that name. And while the music may be charming, the plot was serious. Set in Provence, it concerns a young man who commits suicide when he discovers his hoped-for bride (the "girl from Arles," who never appears on stage) has been unfaithful.

The play was not successful, but the music became popular. Bizet chose the seven most substantial pieces from the incidental music for his two suites. These show his gift for memorable themes and imaginative orchestration. 

Paul Affelder had this to say in High Fidelity: "One would expect idiomatic interpretations of this French music from a French conductor of Jean Morel's stature, and with one exception he does not disappoint. That exception is the second L'Arlésienne Suite, which he delivers in a routine fashion. This is surprising, because he infuses the first suite with poise and sensitivity." In my view, the only routine part of the second suite is the opening Pastorale, which is strangely inert.

Bizet's second suite closes with a Farandole that, following its opening recapitulation of the first suite's Prelude, turns into a remarkable orchestral showpiece. The Covent Garden orchestra was not considered to be first-rank, but they do well throughout the suites.

Emmanuel Chabrier

This fine playing extends to the colorful works of Chabrier. As I mentioned, España is an orchestral showpiece, and the performance here is faultless. Like Bizet's suites, it became popular and famous. The composer was moved to write the work following a trip to Spain.

I never tire of mentioning that Al Hoffman and Dick Manning turned one of España's subsidiary themes into something called "Hot Diggity (Dog Ziggity Boom)." It was a hit for Perry Como in 1956 (and I had the record back then).

Chabrier's Joyeuse marche is not as popular as España, but perhaps it should be. Chabrier tinkered with it for some time; it also exists in two different piano four-hands versions.

The recording of these pieces is one of the best from the late 1950s - well-balanced, atmospheric and convincing. It was done for the RCA Victor "Living Stereo" line by UK Decca in the person of engineer Kenneth Wilkinson, working in the Kingsway Hall, London.

Altogether, a most happy LP - well, except for the suicide.

LINK

Morel Conducts Albéniz and Ravel

Today we have another one of the few orchestral recordings led by the French-American conductor Jean Morel, this the result of a request by long-time blog follower centuri.

As with the recent post of excerpts from Swan Lake, Decca UK produced this double-LP for RCA Victor. Decca made quite a number of recordings with the Paris Conservatoire Orchestra during the period, including these September 1959 sessions with Morel.

Jean Morel

The LP set is notable in that it was the first complete recording of Isaac Albéniz's Iberia in its orchestrated form. The composer wrote the 12 pieces for piano in the years before his death in 1909. He asked his colleague Enrique Fernández Arbós to undertake the orchestration, but Arbós only scored five of the 12 sections. It wasn't until the 1950s that the Spanish-American conductor-composer Carlos Surinach provided orchestrations for the other pieces.

In its piano guise, Iberia is famed for its difficulty. Its kaleidoscopic, pictorial nature is well suited for Morel's orchestral control and mastery of balance. There is little passion in his approach, however, and the Paris orchestra was not a virtuoso ensemble. I have nothing but praise for the performance of Ravel's Rapsodie Espagnole that completes the set.

The Decca recording is typical of its output, with elevated high and low frequencies. It's impressive, but can make the strings sound harsh.

The download includes scans of the gatefold sleeve, along with reviews from High Fidelity and HiFi-Stereo Review and the ad below. RCA had several interesting releases that month, including a Delibes record conducted by Hugo Rignold that will appear here at some point. The feature attraction, though, was symphonic chunks extracted from Fritz Reiner's records.

Click to enlarge

Jean Morel Conducts Tchaikovsky

Tchaikovsky's ballet scores for The Nutcracker and Sleeping Beauty have appeared here a number of times, but I have neglected his Swan Lake music. To make amends, here is a set of excerpts from the early days of stereo.

The conductor is Jean Morel (1903-75), born in France and primarily associated with the operas from that country. This post is one of the few commercial records he made that were not accompaniments.

Jean Morel

Morel left Europe in 1936, and after stops in Latin America, came to the US in 1940. He became associated with the New York City Opera a few years later, staying there until 1951. A 22-year association with the Juilliard School began in 1949. He soon became an influential teacher. Morel has appeared on this blog before, conducting the Juilliard Orchestra in a Mozart concerto with pianist Rosina Lhévinne, his colleague at the school. Much of the conductor's reputation rests on his 1956-71 tenure with the Metropolitan Opera, where he primarily was associated with French works.

In this Tchaikovsky recording, he leads the Royal Opera House Orchestra, Covent Garden. As far as I can determine, Morel never was engaged by the Royal Ballet, and only conducted a single 1960 performance of Manon for Covent Garden Opera. Nor was he a specialist in ballet music, unlike most of the conductors who have appeared here in that repertoire.

That said, his reading of the Swan Lake music is very good. The opposite of an improvisatory conductor, Morel believed in having all aspects of the score worked out ahead of time. You can hear that this performance is well controlled, and his care over the score may seem a little too careful at times. But all in all, it's most enjoyable.

The recording was made for RCA Victor by UK Decca engineers working in Watford Town Hall in September 1957. As usual with Decca recordings, both the low and high frequencies are emphasized. While the results are vivid, the microphones perhaps were too close to the strings, which can sound wiry at times.

Cover of first US issue

RCA originally issued the LP in mono only in the US (above). The first US stereo edition, which is the source of my transfer, was in 1965 in the budget Victrola line (advertisement below). RCA's UK arm issued a mono version in late 1958 and stereo early the next year. The download includes a Gramophone review from October 1958.

Ad in May 1965 High Fidelity magazine (click to enlarge)

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Mozart Concertos from Rosina Lhévinne

I thought I might follow up the Ania Dorfmann and Maryla Jonas posts with a selection of the recordings of another lesser-known woman pianist, Rosina Lhévinne.

Lhévinne made very few appearances in the recording studio and was principally known in her lifetime for being a noted piano teacher, with pupils including Van Cliburn and John Browning, as well as for being the wife of pianist Josef Lhévinne. The few items that were captured, however, show her to be a first-rate artist.

Rosina Bessie was a promising piano student in Moscow when she met Josef Lhévinne, marrying him soon after her 1898 graduation from the Conservatory, and quickly abandoning any career as a solo performer, although she did engage in duo-piano works with Josef. The pair came to the US following the World War, and they joined the Juilliard faculty several years later. Josef died in 1944.

The Lhévinnes only made two recordings together, to my knowledge – Debussy’s “Fêtes” and a Mozart sonata, both in the 1930s.

Today’s LPs include the first record that Rosina made following Josef’s death, a November 1947 rendition of Mozart’s Concerto for Three Pianos K.242, where she is joined by the duo-pianists Vitya Vronsky and Victor Babin, and accompanied by the Little Orchestra Society and conductor Thomas Scherman, in a recording from Liederkranz Hall. The transfer is from an early Columbia LP that also includes Vronsky and Babin in a showy version of Mozart’s Concerto for Two Pianos K.365 with the Robin Hood Dell Orchestra and Dimitri Mitropoulos. The latter dates from September 1945. The sound on both is good. Strangely, Columbia bills Rosina Lhévinne only as “Lhévinne” on the LP cover.

Jean Morel

Rosina is heard to best advantage, however, in today’s second album, recorded in May 1960 to mark her 80th birthday. This is a superior account of Mozart’s Concerto No. 21 in which she sounds just as youthful as the students in the accompanying Juilliard Orchestra (I suspect the ensemble also included faculty), led by Jean Morel, another famed teacher. (Vronsky and Babin also were instructors, and were on the Cleveland Institute of Music faculty for many years – Babin was the director of the school.) The sound from Columbia’s 30th Street Studio is as vibrant as the artistry. That is Josef Lhévinne’s portrait over Rosina’s shoulder on the LP cover up top.

I also have the Lhévinnes’ version of “Fêtes” and Rosina’s 1961 Chopin Concerto No. 1 if there is interest.

LINK to Concerto No. 21 (2026 remaster)

LINK to Concertos for 2 and 3 Pianos (2026 remaster)