Search - Darius Milhaud, Max Roques :: Darius Milhaud: Symphony Nos. 4 Op. 281 & Symphony No. 8 "Rhodanienne" Op. 362 (Hommage a Darius Milhaud)

Composer-conducted performances from 1968

Discophage | France | 08/02/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I don't usually like the music of Milhaud, but I like Milhaud's 4th Symphony. It is rambunctious, undisciplined, filled with surprising and ear-catching sonic events. If you didn't know the program, you'd think it was the music written by Honegger for a film on the French Revolution. 1st movement: the people merrily marching, turning round a corner and stumbling face to face with the army. Tension. II. Mourning in the morning after the massacre, hatred and revolt brewing in the people, ray of hope. III. Rejoice : victory - all's well that ends well. IV. Triumph and more rejoice. Those are the images that came to my mind listening to the symphony. Not so far off the mark. It was in fact commissioned (in 1947) to celebrate the French revolution of 1848, and the movements are titled: Insurrection. To the Fallen for the Republic. The peaceful joys of Liberty recovered. 1948 Commemoration.



The 8th Symphony was written in 1957 and it is even more surprising. It begins very dramatically, with ominous orchestral colors and eerie sonic effects, making it sound like Milhaud was really trying to write "contemporary music". A commission from Berkeley University, it is, like the 4th, programmatic. It sets to depict the Rhône river, which runs from Switzerland to Marseilles, crossing Lyon and Avignon. The idea came to Milhaud after hearing Smetana's Moldau. The best movement is indeed the first. The rest is more typical Milhaud, with lots of seemingly bi-tonal instrumental interplay (the kind of thing that makes Milhaud's music seem played by an off-pitch orchestra), in moods alternately pastoral and boisterous, and somewhat meandering - appropriate perhaps, but sometimes being TOO closely imitative can be a liability.



I can't judge the merits of the performances. The French Radio Philharmonic Orchestra under the conductor's stewardship sounds undisciplined, but it may be the way the music is written. The recordings were made in 1968 and sound good, other than a slight dropout in one channel at 3:42 in the last track. TT 49:19.

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