Special offer. Farrenc: Symphony Nos 1-3 & Overtures
Insula Orchestra, Laurence Equilbey
As a complete experience the assembled work s prove both illuminating and rewarding. While tremendously fresh and vigorous, the Symphony No. 2 ’s performance feels somewhat mellower, arguably...
Special offer. Farrenc: Symphony Nos 1-3 & Overtures
Insula Orchestra, Laurence Equilbey
Purchase product
As a complete experience the assembled work s prove both illuminating and rewarding. While tremendously fresh and vigorous, the Symphony No. 2 ’s performance feels somewhat mellower, arguably...
About
• Laurence Equilbey, conducting her period-instrument Insula Orchestra, champions more music by Louise Farrenc, a prominent and pioneering composer in 19th century Paris
• Follows their July 2021 album of Symphonies No. 1 in C minor (first heard in 1845) and No. 3 in G minor (premiered in 1849)
• This set completes the cycle with Symphony No. 2 in D Major Op. 35 and two overtures: Overture No. 1 in E minor, Op. 23 and Overture No. 2 in E-flat Major, Op. 24
• The world’s first complete recording of Louise Farrenc's symphonic music on period instruments
• Farrenc’s compositions reflect different influences/heritages: touches of Mozart, an Italian-inspired virtuosity in the strings reminiscent of Vivaldi, a fluid and innovative harmonic language not unlike Schubert's risk-taking
• “The score is so well written that it deserves a prominent place in the history of the early Romantic symphony … Equilbey and the Insula orchestra gave it a fleet, fiery performance. Their crusading spirit lived up to the day’s billing.” – The Financial Times after a London performance of Symphony No. 3, marking International Women’s Day 2018
• The symphony “was full of engaging inventions … It’s clearly a fine piece; all it needs now is to be heard, many times.” – The Daily Telegraph
Contents and tracklist
Awards and reviews
July 2023
As a complete experience the assembled work s prove both illuminating and rewarding. While tremendously fresh and vigorous, the Symphony No. 2 ’s performance feels somewhat mellower, arguably less overstated in expression than its forerunner disc...the gut-and-wood soundworld of Insula is sympathetically at one with Farrenc’s spirited aesthetic.
July 2023
the intricacy of her writing – for instance, the conversational back-and-forth among the instruments – blossoms when it’s set out by a first-rate ensemble such as the Insula Orchestra.
4th May 2023
The Third Symphony, first performed at a Conservatoire concert in 1849, is unquestionably the finest work here; as Equilbey shows, it’s a work of tremendous energy and verve...Despite a few rough edges, the Insula performances of all the pieces here demonstrate vividly how much they believe in the quality of this music too.
