This Sunday evening on SWR2:
SWR2 Oper: Charles Tournemire: "La Légende de Tristan"
Oper in 3 Akten
Iseut: An De Ridder
Tristan: Markus Francke
Le roi Marc: Dae-Hee Shin
Brangien: I Chiao Shih
Le nain Frocin: Joshua Spink
Opern- und Extrachor des Theaters Ulm Das Philharmonische Orchester der Stadt Ulm
Leitung: Felix Bender
(Uraufführung vom 15. Dezember 2022 im Theater Ulm) (3 hrs.)
Any chance of recording this, please?
If it's available on catch up then I'll have a go, but I can't record it live unfortunately.
Hopefully -being- recorded, if it's a world premiere!
Here's a trailer...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apC1kOU5iaM
Those who understand German can read the manuscript of the today evening's radio programme including some background information about the work and the composer:
https://www.swr.de/swr2/musik-klassik/charles-tournemire-la-legende-de-tristan-swr2-oper-2023-02-05-104.pdf (https://www.swr.de/swr2/musik-klassik/charles-tournemire-la-legende-de-tristan-swr2-oper-2023-02-05-104.pdf)
Best wishes, ewk
Even though like so much by Tournemire I'm guessing his operas are still in manuscript, back in 2017 a book with this intriguing title was published:
Visions of eternity : the choral works and operas of Widor, Vierne and Tournemire (https://www.worldcat.org/title/1064492722) by Michael Bundy (Leicestershire: Matador).
I really hope that someone was able to record this broadcast.
Utterly boring, no wonder it was never performed. A pity for all the work that went into the production.
Doesn't surprise me actually.
Nor me, but one never knows, it might be an exception in Tournemire's oeuvre. That said, it doesn't seem to be available to "listen again" (or at least I can't find it), so the opportunity to record it has passed, unless someone else managed to.
Actually I have made a recording but it contains at least one gap. May be it was a problem with the audio stream itself. This recording Will be broadcasted on DLF Kultur on March 4th. I personally prefer to wait for this version.
Quote...it might be an exception in Tournemire's oeuvre.
I doubt it. I find all the music of his that I have heard uniformly dull. Sorry.
Yes, eight symphonies and every one unmemorable. His was a special sort of talent.
Sometimes it's best to leave a particular composer to the few who might appreciate him/her. I have a feeling that Tournemire falls into this category.
I'm not familiar enough with Tournemire's music to say more than this: whatever the quality of his music, I regret harping on Hovhaness' music (I'd say Feldman's or Reich's, except my opinion of their works has increased sharply so of course I no longer do) if only because warning someone once seems time well spent, saying so four times seems time wasted... to me, anyway.
With respect to you all, do you not know the sixth symphony? It is an astounding masterpiece. Its style may put it outside our remit but it must be heard. The final pages are quite overwhelming. Only the conclusion of Scriabin's "Poem of Ecstasy" or the "Symphony of a Thousand" come close.
Yes, I have listened to Tournemire's Sixth, although admittedly not recently, and I do think it no more memorable than the others. That said, it's only my opinion, which has no more or less authority than anyone else's here. Respectful debate is a healthy thing and I'm always happy to read a differing opinion. I'll listen to it again in the next few days.
I come back to Tournemire from time to time, but the result is always the same - utter boredom. However, as Mark implies, each to his/her own...
For those who want to try the 6th Symphony, here it is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKTRQXty4oE
The ending is pretty tremendous, I concede, but what comes before is a struggle for me. However, there's enough here for me to try again....perhaps.
I have heard the 6th symphony and, while it has its moments, I am afraid I remain underwhelmed. I will say, however, that I have only heard the performance posted on You Tube in which, to my ears, the choir seems very recessed and the dynamics sometimes not tellingly observed. I suspect a better recording would make a big difference. I cannot really comment on the performance because it is the only one I have heard.
Although described as 'Mahlerian', No.6 is nothing of the sort, except in scale. The idiom is highly chromatic, reminding me often of Ravel (Daphnis) and looking forward to Messiaen.
Yes. It's nothing like Mahler stylistically. I'm totally convinced by it and wrote an extremely enthusiastic review for Amazon.co.uk a few years ago. The choir may sound recessed but that is appropriate for this work.
There actually already are two commercial recordings of the 6th, as with most of his symphonies - on Auvidis and Marco Polo/Naxos.
Can anyone who recorded this opera please post it so we all get a chance to exercise our own judgements as to the merits or otherwise of this work.
There's only one recording of the sixth. Bartholomee's on Auvidis. That was made in 1995 and represented its first performance. It seems as though two cycles of symphonies were planned ( the other one on Marco Polo ) but neither was completed. By chance, however, all the symphonies were recorded at least once.
Your enthusiasm has prompted me to listen to it again. I shall do so this week. Mahlerian it definitely is not - I totally agree with Alan's allusions to Ravel.
I have similar feelings, by the way, about late Vierne.
I gave the Auvidis recording of Tournemire's Sixth a spin this afternoon, and was left with mixed feelings. To be fair, I does have it moments but they weren't the moments I was prepared to be impressed by, those when Tournemire turns up the volume with choir, orchestra and organ all "giving it some wellie". To be sure, the finale is impressive in a "wall of sound" sort of way, but there are several other passages earlier in the work which almost reach the same climatic pitch, and to my ears this was just another, slightly longer, slightly louder one. No, it was was gentler passages which caught my attention, particularly the tenor solos in each act, when the music calms down for a few minutes. Otherwise I'm sorry to say that my recollection of the work was accurate: a lot of episodic busyness not helped by Tournemire's inability to pen a memorable melody. I had hoped to feel less negative about the work, but I really did find it a bore.
Let's be happy that German opera houses are willing to breathe new life into 'forgotten' operas. In Germany people still have money for culture! Where in my home country can I find a professional opera house in a city of 140,000 inhabitants? Tilburg, Groningen, Almere, Breda, Eindhoven?, forget it! The review in the German magazine Opernwelt is much more positive about this opera performance https://www.der-theaterverlag.de/opernwelt/aktuelles-heft/
Unfortunately I've not been able to find a "listen again" option for SWR2 broadcasts so, until La Legende de Tristan is rebroadcast and recorded, we're not in a position to discuss its merits. The Opern Welt review is (understandably) protected by a pay wall, but it would be interesting to read if anyone has a subscription....
I have placed a copy of the SWR2 broadcast in the Downloads section. It is the 161k aac-stereo source, edited in a mp4(m4a) container without re-encoding using ffmpeg.
I've listened to this 1.5-times now. In the theater it may be more captivating but I found the audio-only far more tolerable than Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande. It's certainly shorter.
Radio BR Klassik (https://www.br-klassik.de/aktuell/news-kritik/la-legende-de-tristan-theater-ulm-kritik-100.html) in its review states that the Ulm audience at the premiere gave the production standing ovations and that a CD production is planned.
That's good news - thanks.
Thanks also to CelesteCadenza for the recording, which will give us a chance to hear the piece.
Curiosity killed the cat, so thanks to CelesteCadenza's efforts and the affirmative comments I just felt obliged to listen again. This time I found it even worse. It's like watching water running from a tap. The standing ovations were surely not music related.
... or they might be from people that appreciate the music differently than you do. It does happen.
Admittedly, I am something of a fan of Tournemire, even if I must admit that his later orchestral music can be a bit unfocused. My main issue with this particular performance is that the two main male singers don't sound all that French. Particularly in the case of Dae-Hee Shin I find it rather distracting. Still, I feel glad to have given Tristan two listens sofar, and I will certainly return to it in the future.
I can't really take a view on La Légende de Tristan as it's composed in an idiom, contemporary for the 1920s I suppose, which I don't enjoy at all. That's particularly true of the vocal writing, which just isn't my cup of tea.
I'd add this to other operas whose style of vocal writing I don't take to, such as those by Schreker. But to each his own...
With sincere respect for the mostly critical or skeptical statements and judgments of Tournemire' s music in this thread, I nevertheless would like to underline the fact, that there are on the other hand some real Tournemire enthusiasts out there like our dutch friend here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9U2NKWPNL8A
It might be easy to find this kind of enthusiasm a little bit weird and funny. But for me personally I must admit that my admiration of this composer and his music has grown over the years continuously. His most significant music for organ seems to me widely acknowledged and accepted -so there is no need of propagation here.
But the 8 Symphonies seem to me an unsung catalogue of works which is quite unique in French music ( and maybe in European music of that time). What do we have here (in my ears)?
No 1-3: late romantic gems in the tradition of C. Franck; colourfull, vigorous, enjoyable and full of tunes.
No 4 and 5: on the way to a more abstract and modern view of nature and romanticism and to a personal style which is clearly distinctive at the first bars.
No 6-8: for me masterpieces of modern religious music - and in my opinion, although not a religious person, breathtaking and deeply touching. There is a cantata dealing withe the horrors of war and the utopia of redemption (No 6), the evolution of a (christian) civilization as a kind of ballet (No 7) and a profound, eloquent and - optimistic - requiem without words in a distinct modern musical language.
In my present state of musical understanding I would prefer any symphony by Tournemire to any symphony by Mahler or Shostakovich.
And: ,,La Legende de Tristan" is in my ears stylistically very near to the symphony No 7. Inspired, gripping, dramatic - and in the end visionary.
No one here has a monopoly on opinion and it's great to read yours, ilbravo. Respectful disagreement and debate is an entirely healthy thing.
Quote from: Alan Howe on Monday 06 February 2023, 17:47Sometimes it's best to leave a particular composer to the few who might appreciate him/her. I have a feeling that Tournemire falls into this category.
Nice to see that I'm not the only one....
I've tried to record each of the two recent broadcasts of Tristan, and in each case have encountered a technical hitch. Has anyone had better luck?
The DLF broadcast is now available on demand:
https://www.deutschlandfunkkultur.de/charles-tournemire-la-l-gende-de-tristan-dlf-kultur-6ca68360-100.html
Many thanks.