Bru Zane have just issued their promised recording of Charles Silver's opera La Belle Au Bois Dormant (details and audio extracts here (https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/9846328--charles-silver-la-belle-au-bois-dormant)). Silver was a pupil of Massenet, and the audio extracts sound very promising. Has anyone yet had the chance to listen to the whole work?
I think Amazon us copies ship next week. The sound samples sound like fun...
I have it on order from Amazon UK so hopefully will know something about it soon!
To answer my own question, Silver's opera is well worth a listen. Stylistically it falls somewhere between late Massenet (Silver's teacher) and the next generation of Fench opera composers, such as Erlanger. The orchestration is colourful, if rather brash, it's melodically generous and there's plenty of incident. What it lacks is subtlety, but then this is a fairy tale (Sleeping Beauty), so maybe one shouldn't expect the psychological insights in libretto and score that one gets in Werther for example.
It receives an excellent performance in this recording, well up to Bru Zane's high standards, and the booklet tells you all you'll ever need to know about Silver amd his opera. La belle au bois dormant is no masterpiece, but it's an enjoyable romp, and recommendable for anyone who likes fin de siècle French opera.
Quote from: Mark Thomas on Saturday 25 April 2026, 14:22Bru Zane have just issued their promised recording of Charles Silver's opera La Belle Au Bois Dormant (details and audio extracts here (https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/9846328--charles-silver-la-belle-au-bois-dormant)). Silver was a pupil of Massenet, and the audio extracts sound very promising. Has anyone yet had the chance to listen to the whole work?
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_liDGxzxkoL9FKpXtAmSLvMFbW2izAq3is