Roussel började som impressionist, men tonmålandet blev efter hand mörkare, konturerna skarpare. Störst framgång fick han med baletten ”Spindelns gästabud”, som utgör huvudnumret på Stéphane Denèves avslutande utgåva i serien Rousselinspelningar. Det klang- och formsköna framförandet kompletteras med två sviter ur ”balettoperan” ”Padmâvatî”, ett av 1900-talets märligaste musikdramatiska verk. Pianomusiken är än kärvare, och skulle kunna liknas vid Debussy i svartvitt. Emanuele Torquati har fingrarna men inte alltid hjärtat med sig i dessa sällan framförda stycken, där valsen ur ”Spindelns gästabud” sticker ut. © 2012 Dagens Nyheter

Stéphane Denève clearly loves the music of his compatriot and appreciates [Roussel’s] significance to 20th-century French music…The Royal Scottish National Orchestra’s mastery of the Impressionist idiom—which Roussel largely employs here—makes one regret that it has not been asked to record more before now.

Le Festin de l’araignée…is one of three great ballet scores produced by Roussel during the relatively short 34 years of his mature compositional career…[The piece is] appreciated as an enchantingly ingenuous story of guileful spiders, industrious ants, warlike mantises, clever fruit worms, and a fragile and doomed mayfly.

Denève prosigue con su particular integral de la música orquestal de Roussel para la firma Naxos. Al igual que en otras ocasiones, sus versiones presentan un extremado nivel de corrección, y sirven para completar la discografía del compositor que, por otra parte, no parece ser todo lo extensa que sería de desear. En esta ocasión se incluye una de sus composiciones más celebradas y originales, El Festín de la araña, junto a dos suites de danzas incluidas en su ópera-ballet, con argumento oriental, Padmâvatî. El joven director se muestra una vez más como un buen conocedor de la obra del compositor, y nos permite acceder a esta música con plenas garantías, por su dominio de las texturas orquestales expuestas por el francés, así como su visión de conjunto del concepto. No existen muchas versiones de una y otra obra, y aunque las contenidas en este disco poseen las virtudes que indicamos, no son ni mucho menos definitivas. La mejor versión que conozco para el ballet completo El Festín de la araña es Martinon (Erato), creo que imposible de localizar con la que está cayendo. Existe una buena versión de la edición abreviada por Prêtre (EMI). Para PadmâvatÎ lo mejor es hacerse con la ópera completa por Plasson (EMI). © 2012 Ritmo

…The Spider’s Banquet is a ballet-pantomime which depicts insect life and death in the garden. The spider’s dance is great fun, and the short music for the entrance of two praying Mantises is rowdy and warlike. Sonics are excellent for CD. © 2012 Audiophile Audition Read complete review

While Roussel was well-versed in the impressionism of his contemporaries, the vivid programme music of ‘The Spider’s Banquet’ seems grounded in an older classical tradition…‘Padmâvati’, on the other hand, evokes the siege of the ancient Indian city of Chittor by the Moghuls and its wild dynamics, rhythmic complexity and references to Indian music place stiff demands on the orchestra—all of which are handled with considerable aplomb! I really didn’t know what to expect from this disc but thoroughly enjoyed it, so there’s every chance that you will too. For a recording of this quality—dynamic and spatially vivid, with good presence—at Naxos’ budget price, well worth a punt. © 2012 Audiophilia Read complete review

Conductor Stéphane Denève and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra conclude their splendid five-disc cycle of Albert Roussel’s orchestral music with compelling performances of two of the composer’s stage works—one well-known and the other a wonderful hidden treasure. As usual with stage works, listening to the entire score on disc does leave you feeling that something is missing, but Denève’s resourceful conducting—with a keen ear for balances and firm yet fluid rhythmic control—helps compensate. The surprise gem, though, is “Padmavati,” an “opera-ballet” based on an Indian legend, with music that sparkles and sways in an irresistible stream of inspiration. © 2012 San Francisco Chronicle href="http://transcentury.blogspot.com/2012/06/intimations-of-mortality.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Read complete review

Scored for a small orchestra, the music is mostly delicate, with several magical dances. It is great to have the full score if you like French impressionism: it is 30-plus minutes of exactly that, with Ravel on center stage and Debussy lurking approvingly in the wings.

This conclusion…of Stephane Deneve’s survey of Roussel is worthy of the excellent entries that have gone before. The performance is full of life, well paced, and plays up the symphonic aspects of the work with breadth and warmth.

This would seem to be the final recording in Denève’s Roussel series and it maintains the high standards set in the earlier volumes.

When Naxos issued Stéphane Denève’s recordings of Albert Roussel’s symphonies as a 4 CD box set, I snapped it up—having never heard a note of Roussel—and devoured it with gluttonous delight…the fact that Naxos is offering us one more (alas, final!) volume in its Roussel series is a terrific treat.