Hélène and Nuit persane

Camille Saint-Saëns was so offended with the ribaldry of Offenbach’s La Belle Hélène that he set about redressing the score by composing a serious offering of his own. The result is the one-act ‘Poeme Lyrique’ Héléne which he wrote in 1903. It had its premiere in Monte Carlo on 18 February 1904 with no less a singer than Nellie Melba in the lead. For a brief time it shone brightly in London, Paris, Milan and Frankfurt but by 1919, when it was revived at the Opera-Comique, its score had been condemned to the archives of brave failures.

This Melba Recordings album is a world premiere recording. In super audio surround sound it is coupled with yet another world first recording – that of Saint-Saëns’ Nuit Persane or Persian Nights. Based on the lyrics of Armand Renaud, the latter... is atmospheric and dramatic. It also possesses some whistle-able tunes...

The story of Hélène is quite basic and well known in classical circles. Paris steals Helen from Spartan husband and king Menelaus, takes refuge in his own country Troy, and precipitates a war, whereupon the lovers flee to distant lands when the going gets tough. The music is scored in what one might call the Wagnerian style of luscious orchestral interludes interrupted by vocal passages that help to move the story along...

Nuit Persane was probably inspired by the European fascination for all things oriental especially following the Paris Exposition of 1889 in which, amongst other things, the Indonesian gamelan was introduced to western musicologists. Debussy fell under its spell, as also did Mahler and to a certain extent Gilbert and Sullivan. However, Saint-Saëns, always an ardent traveller, had already been converted to the potential of new horizons. Between 1870 and 1872 he’d composed a song cycle for voice and piano which he termed Mélodies persanes and which he later orchestrated. Two new songs ('Les cygnes' and 'La fuite') were subsequently added and it is this version that has been recorded. More akin to a cantata than any other musical form it is set for choir, mezzo-soprano, tenor and narrator. Once again Saint-Saëns is more impressive in the orchestral interludes but the songs are, nevertheless, evocative of a Persian harem where forbidden love is doomed from the start...

The production of this recording is excellent. Orchestra Victoria and the Belle Époque Chorus are well-disciplined and expertly led by French conductor Guillaume Tourniaire. His notes in the attractive hard-bound booklet have helped immeasurably in understanding Saint-Saëns’ music...

The principals... they’re all home-grown... and that is important because ultimately it is the overriding strength of this remarkable recording.