Cesar Franck: Rebecca (Oratorio, sometimes called a Cantata)

Started by ancestralvoices, Monday 10 January 2022, 16:26

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ancestralvoices

I've not seen this Oratorio mentioned here. Does anyone know of a recording of this work? I heard it performed live years ago in Maastricht, Netherlands at the University and have not seen it since except a YouTube performance with not terrific sound. Sumptuous work.
https://youtu.be/ixiK-onKuhs

eschiss1

oratorio, sometimes called a cantata, but published as neither. A scène biblique.
Will have a look. extracts were published on a Syrius disc in 1996.

Alan Howe

Franck himself called Rébecca a 'Scène biblique'. I don't know of a recording.


eschiss1

Worldcat lists an lp recording made by RAI. Might be radio/broadcast-only, or something.

chriskh

The RAI performance was recorded at a public concert on 30 April 1959. The soloists were Gloria Davy (soprano) and Pierre Mollet (bass), with the Turin RAI Chorus and Orchestra conducted by Mario Rossi. I wasn't aware of an LP issue. It used to be on youtube but seems to have disappeared. There are a couple of quite recent live performances on youtube, though. It lasts just under 36 minutes in Rossi's hands, so cantata is probably a better word than oratorio, also because it has only 2 soloists.