Bizet - Symphony Nr. 2 "Roma" (1871)

[Alan Howe]

Am I the only one who thinks that the rather sniffy opinions of Bizet's symphony are a bit unfair? OK - it's not the stunning masterpiece that is his Symphony in C, but how can one ignore a work with so much charm and melody? Staggering...

[Mark Thomas]

It's years since I listened to it, but I will be doing so tomorrow as earlier on today I downloaded Naxos' new offering of Roma coupled with some rarities: Overture in A, Marche Funèbre and Patrie.

[semloh]

It's easy (for me at least) to confuse this with the Symphony No.1, which is well represented in the LP and CD catalogues. I recall that the two were usefully coupled on an EMI LP played by the City of Birmingham SO/Fremeaux. I see that Wiki says it is "not often performed", and I can't recall seeing it on a concert programme here in Australia.

It's time I listened to it again, so thanks for the reminder! 

[Alan Howe]

I have the Naxos CD too, Mark - hence this new thread. It's rather good, by the way: elegantly done and well recorded.

[Mark Thomas]

I agree, it's a very satisfying set of performances which shows off each work in the best light. I can't honestly say that any of the pieces apart from Jeux d'enfants is Bizet at his very best, and at first hearing the early Overture seems a particularly slight piece, but they're all good to have. The rendition of Roma itself is a much more committed and persuasive interpretation than the one which I've had for years (Bátiz conducting the Royal Philharmonic on ASV).  The Marche Funèbre is also an improvement on my previous recording. Oddly, I didn't have either Patrie or Petite Suite (Jeux d'enfants) in my collection, so this has turned out to be £4.99 very well spent!

[alberto]

I retain a strong affection for "Roma", which I had the luck to hear twice in live concerts (once it was coupled with the Schedrin-Bizet "Carmen ballet").
It is not so rare on record as I own a Soviet (Provatorov conducting) and a Bulgarian recording (Ivan Anguelov cond.). Better are IMHO Fremaux and Plasson. Of course many will own/know the movement recorded by Beecham.

[adriano]

Don't forget Michel Plasson's wonderful 1994 CD with "Roma" (suite de concert), "Symphonie en ut majeur" and "Patrie" (ouverture dramatique)! And there was an Erato C of 1990 with "Roma", coupled with his Cantata "Clovis et Clotilde", both excellently conducted by Jean-Claude Casadesus - with soloists like Montserrat Caballé and Boris Martinovic!

[sdtom]

I too will be downloading this new recording.
Tom

[gprengel]

It is always a beautiful experience to discover a new musical treasure - which I also had today: I always enjoyed Bizet's  youth symphony in C-major, but I never knew that he also wrote a second symphony which I think is really marvelous, especially in the 1st and 3rd movement! I listen to these 2 movements over and over... I can't see that this one has ever been covered in this forum before, so I hope you will enjoy it:

https://youtu.be/ASd1agTESF4

[eschiss1]

Well, there's this, but that was awhile ago.

[Alan Howe]

Thanks, Eric. As you can see, I've mereged the two threads.

Gerd is quite right, of course.

[Christopher]

I retain a strong affection for "Roma", which I had the luck to hear twice in live concerts (once it was coupled with the Schedrin-Bizet "Carmen ballet").
It is not so rare on record as I own a Soviet (Provatorov conducting) and a Bulgarian recording (Ivan Anguelov cond.). Better are IMHO Fremaux and Plasson. Of course many will own/know the movement recorded by Beecham.

I've never seen how the Shchedrin isn't just a copy-paste plagiarism of the original! There are no variations or developments at all!  I love Bizet's original work of course. But the non-effort by Shchedrin (who is highly admired and honoured by Putin...) needs to be called for what it is.