Famous French Overtures – Polish National Radio Orchestra, Richard Hayman, Naxos (CD)

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Product Details

• UPC: 0730099547321
• Catalogue Number: 8.550473
• Brand/Label: Naxos
• Composers: Offenbach, Adam, Gounod, Chabrier, Auber
• Ensembles: Polish National Radio Orchestra · Czecho-Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra (Bratislava)
• Conductor: Richard Hayman
• Release Year: 1991 (recorded 1990)
• Genre: Classical – Orchestral/Overture Collection
• Country of Producing: [confirm] (no "Made in" line visible in the provided photos)

Product Features

• Format: Audio CD, DDD (fully digital recording), Stereo
• Total playing time: 64:38
• Cover artwork: photograph of the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, Paris

Overview

This is a genuinely fun compilation of 19th-century French opéra comique and operetta overtures — a genre that rarely gets a whole disc to itself but produced some of the most immediately appealing orchestral writing of the era. Auber's "Masaniello" and "The Crown Diamonds" carry real drama and sparkle, while Offenbach's contributions (from "La Vie Parisienne" and "La Belle Hélène") bring the wit and rhythmic bounce his operettas are known for. Adam's "If I Were King" and Auber's "The Bronze Horse" round out the more theatrical, story-driven side of the programme, and Chabrier's two contributions add a distinctly different color — his "Fête polonaise" and "Danse slave" both borrow folk-dance idioms rather than pure opéra comique style. Richard Hayman conducts two different orchestras across the sessions (Polish National Radio in Katowice, Czecho-Slovak Radio Symphony in Bratislava) with consistent energy and good pacing throughout. A genuinely enjoyable, unpretentious disc for anyone who likes bright, tuneful orchestral overtures and wants to hear beyond the usual handful that get programmed everywhere.

Interesting Facts

• Several of these overtures come from opéra comique and operetta works that are rarely staged today, making the overtures themselves the primary way most listeners encounter this music.
• Chabrier's "Fête polonaise" and "Danse slave" both incorporate Eastern European folk-dance rhythms into otherwise French orchestral writing.
• Auber's "Masaniello" (La Muette de Portici) is historically significant as the opera whose 1830 Brussels performance is credited with helping spark the Belgian Revolution.
• The disc draws on two different orchestras recorded in two different countries — Poland and Slovakia — reflecting Naxos's early-1990s practice of using multiple Eastern European orchestras across its budget catalogue.
• Offenbach's two contributions here, from "La Vie Parisienne" and "La Belle Hélène," represent some of his most enduringly popular operetta overtures.

Track Listing

1. Offenbach: La vie parisienne (Parisian Life) – 5:45
2. Adam: Si j'étais roi (If I Were King) – 7:51
3. Gounod: Ainsi que la brise (Like the Breeze) – 4:42
4. Chabrier: Fête polonaise (Polish Festival) – 8:17
5. Auber: Les diamants de la couronne (The Crown Diamonds) – 8:29
6. Auber: Le cheval de bronze (The Bronze Horse) – 7:54
7. Chabrier: Danse slave (Slavonic Dance) – 5:38
8. Offenbach: La belle Hélène (Fair Helen) – 5:04
9. Auber: Masaniello – 10:19

Publishers

Naxos, part of the Naxos Music Group, recorded at Polish Radio, Katowice (tracks 1, 3, 4, 7, 8) and the Concert Hall of Slovak Radio, Bratislava (tracks 2, 5, 6).

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