A couple fine recordings by the French conductor Albert Wolff made during the last gasp of the monaural age in the mid 50's. My hard working colleague Satyr at 78 toeren en LPs has been coaxing some remarkable offerings from 78's of Wolff's work during the 1930's, mainly with the Lamoureux Orchestra. Here, Wolff directs the Paris Conservatory Orchestra in very fine readings of Glazunov's wonderful Seasons ballet and a handful of overtures by Auber.
Sadly, we don't hear these overtures or this ballet score much today. The overtures are rousing, tuneful and a lot of fun. I think they are great concert openers however tastes must have changed over the decades so performances, and recordings, are few and far between. The Seasons is great Glazunov fare - wonderful melodies, beautifully orchestrated and, important for Glazunov, just the right length. In spite of his vast talent and easy way with melody, Glazunov did have a reputation at times for being a bit long winded and old fashioned. Happily, that is not the case in The Seasons. This is quite simply, excellent music which compliments the scores written previously, most notably those of Tchaikovsky.
Wolff's interpretations are products of many years of living with the music of Auber and Glazunov. He knows exactly what to do and the PCO responds to his direction instinctively. This is one of those probably happy occasions where everyone understands one another and the business at hand and gets it done efficiently and with A+ results. There is satisfying listening here, for sure.
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