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Better today than yesterday? The Palazzetto Bru Zane’s series of recordings of the complete operas of Saint-Saëns, begun in 2012, now continues with the release of one of his most mysterious works. For L’Ancêtre, unlike Phryné or La Princesse jaune, is a score that the history of French music has stubbornly ignored and whose title says little about its subject matter. One never ceases to be surprised by opera houses’ general lack of interest in Saint-Saëns’s output for the theatre, even though his Danse macabre, his concertos for piano and cello and the Bacchanal from Samson et Dalila are constantly heard. Let us examine whether the quality of L’Ancêtre justifies its subsequent neglect.

Rather than proposing an answer to the question by means of musicological analysis, perhaps it would be preferable to give the music critics of our day a chance to speak, those journalists who hastened to express their views following the concert performance given in Monaco in October 2024, from which this recording derives. And let us see if today’s discourse matches the – thoroughly enthusiastic – reaction of those who were present at the world premiere (including Gabriel Fauré himself).

François Laurent (Diapason) went so far as to describe the opera as ‘a marvel’ in which ‘nothing drags, the action flows. […] Old Saint- Saëns seeks to astonish his audience at every turn’. Laurent Bury (Classica) called it a ‘brief but powerful piece’, with ‘well-characterised protagonists’ and a libretto that is ‘wholly effective in its tragic character’. For Damien Dutilleul (Olyrix), L’Ancêtre is ‘musically very rich. It is the work of an audacious, mature composer. Several numbers, especially ensembles and choruses, are particularly striking’. Jany Campello (Resmusica) appreciated the ‘concision’ and ‘luxuriance’ of a score that ‘unwinds a dramatic thread of rare tension, particularly from Act Two onwards. […] The variety of effects and orchestral colours, the absence of longueurs, and the vitality of his music prevent boredom, and offer moments of great beauty […] right up to a vocal quartet of overwhelming lyricism’. According to Clément Mariage (Forum Opéra), the music is particularly ‘inspired’, contriving ‘highly successful dramatic episodes. […] What’s more, the orchestration of the work is highly meticulous’, especially the final ‘passionate lyrical outpouring, staggering in its sensuality and pain’. Finally, Laurent Bury (again, but this time writing for Concertclassic) praises ‘a concision and freedom rare in Saint-Saëns, who does not feel obliged to adopt the austere drapery of antiquity and allows himself more flexible forms’; the critic confessed himself ‘struck by certain motifs whose dramatic efficacy almost seems to prefigure the film music of Bernard Herrmann’.

What can we conclude from this chorus of praise, whose unanimity even surpasses the reviews of the premiere (which one might well put down to a polite esteem for the elderly Saint-Saëns)? Firstly, that the tireless work of institutions that go out prospecting for buried treasure can bear fruit and is not in vain. But also that such dormant works must be championed with enthusiasm and talent by artists conscious of their responsibility in this mission of resurrection. For all the aforementioned commentators praised the quality of a team of performers fully committed to the work’s revival. Which is why we would like to pay heartfelt tribute to the instrumentalists, conductor and singers who strove to give L’Ancêtre a new lease of life. For if the score is the prerequisite for displaying the artist’s talent, it is the latter’s sensitivity and exacting standards that transcend that score and raise it to new heights. And, finally, we wish to put in a word for the enthusiasm of our collaboration with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo and its conductor Kazuki Yamada, a joint effort initiated and sustained thanks to Didier de Cottignies, to whom we express our warm gratitude for having made this adventure possible. Thanks to him, from now on it will be a pleasure to listen to our ancestors. Alexandre Dratwicki (Palazzetto Bru Zane)

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Camille Saint-Saens (1835-1921): L’Ancetre (Deluxe-Ausgabe im Hardcover-Buch); Michael Arivony, Gaelle Arquez, Helene Carpentier, Julien Henric, Jennifer Holloway, Matthieu Lecroart, Tokyo Philharmonic Chorus, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, Kazuki Yamada

2 CDs; Michael Arivony, Gaelle Arquez, Helene Carpentier, Julien Henric, Jennifer Holloway, Matthieu Lecroart, Tokyo Philharmonic Chorus, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, Kazuki Yamada/Bru Zane

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Eine Besprechung folgt zeitnah/ g.h.