Search - Rabaud, Etcheverry, Orch Phil Des Pays :: Marouf

Very fine music in good performances

G.D. | Norway | 04/21/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Henri Rabaud (1873-1949) is one of very many superb late-romantic French composers inspired by Impressionism whose music is rarely if ever heard today. All the more welcome, then, is this fine release of "Marouf, Savetier du Caire", the most successful of his eight operas, written in 1914. The performance dates from 1976 and while the sound quality is far from perfect, it is far more than acceptable - a little scruffy, but well-balanced and with good perspective. There are also good notes and a libretto in French and English.



The neglect of Marouf is not hard to fathom, given Rabaud's sometimes dabbling in the kind of faux-orientalism that went so thoroughly out of fashion later on, yet the opera is well constructed and contains some remarkably good music. The story, a comic - or rather, amusing - one is based on a tale from the Arabian Nights (and features a main character who is almost frustratingly submissive, indecisive and unheroic). Rabaud did indeed write more profound operas as well, and based on the quality of Marouf I hope to get the chance, sometime, to hear some of these as well. Musically, there are some empty stretches of little merit, but they are broken up by much extremely good stuff, such as the Act 3 love duet. In fact, the quality of the music is sufficiently high and inventive for the work to stay fresh and engaging throughout. Stylistically, Rabaud was a staunch anti-modernism, and for the most part the style is late romantic (Massenet and d'Indy) with some spicings of impressionist harmonies, maybe even a nod or two to the Austrian hyper-romanticists of the time (Schreker and Zemlinsky). The music is, however, generally melodic and pleasing on the ear and very skillfully scored and laid out for the voices. In short, while not a masterpiece, it is an eminently worthwhile and engaging work, although recommended perhaps more for fans of Massenet than fans of Debussy's Pelleas & Melisande.



Michael Lecocq brings Marouf to life with a very fine characterization, although his quirks might be a little wearisome. Blanzat, however, is fresh-sounding and strong as Saamcheddine. The rest of the cast is generally far more than decent, and the orchestral contributions under Jesus Etcheverry are very good. With - as already mentioned - rather good sound quality, this remains an eminently recommendable release. I have not heard the alternative Gala recording, but - in addition to being a very satisfying performance - this issue does at least have good notes and libretto, something Gala tends to eschew."