Rediscovery of Mel Bonis Continues with New Recording
The welcome rediscovery of Mel Bonis continues, and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and conductor Rumon Gamba do full justice to her finely crafted, perfumed orchestral music on this new studio recording. Bonis was a classmate of Claude Debussy, and the best of her works here compare to his in terms of instrumental intrigue, albeit on a smaller scale.
Trois Femmes de Légende: Beguiling Tone Poems
Bonis's most ambitious works for orchestra were the Trois Femmes de Légende, written around 1909. In these beguiling, brief tone poems, Ophelia emerges as a kind of tragic water nymph, Salome as a princess from a far-off, exotic east. Even more mystery surrounds Cleopatra, who is portrayed in music that is sensuous yet uneasy, with quiet writing for the bass instruments underpinning her languid melody.
Orchestral Songs and Dances
Of the two orchestral songs on the recording, both beautifully delivered by soprano Elizabeth Watts, Le Chat sur le Toit is especially appealing, a mercurial and imaginative depiction of a cat scampering and meowing across the rooftops. A fleet-footed lightness infuses the other works here too, most of which are dances. Several feel like interludes, over almost before they have begun, but no less enjoyable for that; these pieces are slender yet perfectly formed.
