Search - Schmitt, Orchestre National de Lorraine, Mercier :: Antoine Et Cleopatre Mirages

Monumental music ... yet lushly atmospheric

Classic Music Lover | Maryland, USA | 09/10/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Those who know the "orientalist" compositions of Florent Schmitt will need no prodding to purchase this CD. The "Antoine et Cleopatre" suites are in the same mould as "Salome" and "Salammbo" -- but with even more vivid orchestral colors and drama (if that seems possible). What's more, this new recording by Jacques Mercier and the Lorraine forces leaves the older Segerstam/Rhineland Orchestra recording on Cybelia totally in the dust. Musical moods range from dramatic to contemplative to stormy, with a particularly exciting Bacchanale movement. The sheer wash of orchestral sound reminds us again of just how effective an orchestrator Schmitt was -- certainly one of the absolutely best practitioners in the first half of the 20th century.



The filler item "Mirages" -- also written in the early 1920s -- is interesting in that it is an orchestral version Schmitt made of two piano pieces he had composed a couple years before. The "Pan" movement is particularly effective.



If you like impressionistic/late romantic French music with a splash of Russo/Germanic flavor, you'll absolutely love this disk. As this is an imported item, I recommend you get it now, before it goes out of circulation."