Search - Ferdinand Herold, Charles Gounod, Ambroise Thomas :: Tortelier's French Bonbons

A real tonic, this, featuring a sprinkling of old warhorses cheek by cheek with some charming new acquaintances. With items like Massenet's gorgeous The Last Sleep of the Virgin and Auber's fizzing overture to The Bronze Horse, Yan Pascal Tortelier boldly enters the territory of such legends of the podium as Sir Thomas Beecham and Paul Paray, yet it's some measure of his success that he survives the comparison with ease. What's more, the BBC Philharmonic respond with exemplary dash, flair, and polish throughout, their playing exquisitely tender and ideally boisterous by turns (just try the truly exhilarating rendering of Chabrier's Joyeuse marche with which proceedings close--surely the best in many a long year). Fans of Alfred Hitchcock will immediately recognize Gounod's Funeral March of a Marionette (a classic case of "so that's what it's called!"), while both the indestructible "Barcarolle" from Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann and exceedingly pretty "Meditation" from Massenet's Thais boast delightful contributions from the excellent Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Choir. An irresistible anthology, resplendently engineered in the finest Chandos tradition. --Andrew Achenbach