Magnard: Symphonies Nos. 3 & 4

Album review

A perennial omission from Parisian concert halls, Albéric Magnard owes his resurrection to Ernest Ansermet, who was the first to record his splendid Third Symphony in B-Flat Minor at the head of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande in 1968, a few months before his death. Then it was the turn of Michel Plasson, that doughty defender of the French repertoire, who would record a magisterial complete collection of his symphonic works in Toulouse in the 1980s. Later on, Jean-Yves Ossonce would produce a marvellous version of these symphonies at the head of the BBC Scotland Orchestra, before Thomas Sanderling did the same, in Malmö. There is a certain historical irony (Magnard was killed by a German bullet in the first days of 1914 as he tried to defend his house) in the fact that this new version, led by a French conductor, comes to us from across the Rhine. After working with Michael Gielen and Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Fabrice Bollon has made a name for himself with his original programmatic choices and performances bearing the hallmark of his unique personality. The musical director of the Philharmonic Orchestra of Freiburg- im-Breisgau since 2008, he is also the conductor at the local opera house, in a city that is home of one of Europe's oldest universities and an ecological pioneer. Freiburg is also a great cultural and musical centre. Recorded in concert in 2017 and 2018, these Symphonies No.3 and 4 by Magnard represent the first volume of a complete collection of his symphonic works and chamber music that Fabrice Bollon has staggered across several seasons, giving his audience a chance to discover one of the most original and overlooked composers that France has produced. Magnard's music is shot through with a powerful vitality and represents a gorgeous alloy of French genius with German symphonic constructions. An obscure man, a loner not given to compromise, he bravely defended Alfred Dreyfus in the same spirit as he would later risk his life to meet an advancing enemy in the first days of the First World War. His heroic death should not overshadow the fact of his profound musical power and originality. © François Hudry/Qobuz