BBC Philharmonic, CBSO Chorus, Yan Pascal Tortelier - Roussel: Évocations, Pour une fête de printemps & Suite in F Major (2018)

Maestro Yan Pascal Tortelier celebrates his twenty five-year recording career and seventy-album discography on Chandos with this album of three of Roussel's most remarkable compositions. It follows a highly praised Birmingham concert with the same forces, namely the exceptional BBCPO and CBSO Chorus, and three revelatory soloists: Kathryn Rudge, 2017 BBC New Generation Artist, the young tenor Alessandro Fisher, joint first prize winner at the 2016 Kathleen Ferrier Awards, and François Le Roux, famous for his award-winning performances of French operas. Although very rarely recorded, Evocations stands as a monument in the compositional life of Roussel, depicting scenes, sounds, and colours from his experiences of India. Also featured are the audacious Pour une fete de printemps, originally composed as a Scherzo for his controversial Second Symphony, and the later Suite in F, which was performed in Paris several times after its Boston premiere, to critical acclaim.