Albert Roussel - Évocations, Op. 15 (1911)

Albert Charles Paul Marie Roussel (5 April 1869 – 23 August 1937) was a French composer. He spent seven years as a midshipman, turned to music as an adult, and became one of the most prominent French composers of the interwar period. His early works were strongly influenced by the impressionism of Debussy and Ravel, while he later turned toward neoclassicism.''

Évocations. Op. 15 (1910 April-1911 June, possibly revised 1920s)
For Solo Voices, Chorus and Orchestra
Librettist: Michel Dimitri Calvocoressi (1877-1944), after Kālidāsa (fl.4th century–5th century)

1. Les dieux dans l’ombre des cavernes (0:00)
2. La ville rose (13:43)
3. Aux bords du fleuve sacré (23:38)

Kathryn Rudge, mezzo soprano
Alessandro Fisher, tenor
Francois le Roux, baritone
CBSO Chorus & BBC Philharmonic conducted by Yan Pascal Tortelier

Dedication: Gustave Samazeuilh (1877-1967)
René De Castéra (1873-1955)
Octave Maus (1856-1919)

Description by "Blue" Gene Tyranny [-]
This symphonic triptych of lovely Impressionist textures was composed in the years 1910-1911 and reflects the composer's profound experience with Eastern cultures while in the French Navy in his early years (he had also made a special study of mathematics in the Naval School). The instrumental first part, "Les Dieux dans l'ombre des cavernes" (The gods in the shadow of the caverns) is a sweeping impressionist tone poem on the emotional impact of the Hindu statues and other representations in the cave temples, especially that of Lord Shiva in the Ellora cave. The rays of light through the jungle and the mysterious darkness of the caves soon change from a shimmering transparent texture to overwhelmingly dramatic melodicism that expresses awe in the face of the thousands of years and profundity of Indian culture and philosophy. The instrumental second part, "La ville rose" (The rosy city) expresses varying images of a bustling city, of festival dances, of the rays of the setting sun, and other images deliberately left to the imagination of the listener. The third part, "Aux bords du fleuve sacré" (On the shores of the sacred river) adds a chorus and three soloists who employ the (somewhat overwrought) text by M.D. Calvocoressi to describe the life-giving force of the holy river, the temples, the lotus blossoms, the lovers wandering on the banks. Not often performed, this work is certainly as compelling as the works of Debussy and Ravel within this same period.