Artist:
Cristian Măcelaru
Orchestre National de France
Genre:
Classical
Total Time:
66:00
Record Label:
Warner Classics
Purchase Album:
CD, Amazon Music,
Apple Music, Spotify
Release Date
January 28, 2026
Find out more about this album release after the jump.
Cristian Măcelaru
Orchestre National de France
Genre:
Classical
Total Time:
66:00
Record Label:
Warner Classics
Purchase Album:
CD, Amazon Music,
Apple Music, Spotify
Release Date
January 28, 2026
Find out more about this album release after the jump.
Purchasing Links
Product Description: GRAMMY® Award-winning conductor Cristian Măcelaru leads the Orchestre National de France in a landmark recording devoted to the symphonic music of Elsa Barraine (1910-1999), one of the most significant and unjustly overlooked French composers of the 20th century. Out today on Warner Classics, the album brings together Barraine’s Symphony No. 1 (1931), Symphony No. 2 “Voïna” (1938), Song-Koï: Le Fleuve rouge (1945), and Les Tziganes (1959).
A Prix de Rome laureate at just 19 and a student of Paul Dukas, Barraine stood at the center of French musical life between the two World Wars. She moved in the same circles as Olivier Messiaen and other leading composers of her generation, and worked at the French National Radio from 1936 to 1940. During the Second World War, she ceased composing to join the Resistance, co-founding the Front national des musiciens and narrowly escaping arrest.
Despite early acclaim and post-war success – including BBC performances of her Second Symphony – Barraine’s music gradually fell into neglect after her death in 1999. Some of her works have never been performed; at least one full manuscript remains unheard.
For Măcelaru, this recording marks the beginning of a sustained effort to restore Barraine to her rightful place in the repertoire. He recently opened his November 2025 Carnegie Hall appearance with the Orchestre National de France with a work by Barraine, introducing her music to a major American audience and receiving strong critical response, with Musical America calling her music “beguiling… affirming the possibility of joy even in the midst of crisis” while BachTrack praised its “anguish, ferocity and sarcasm, calling to mind works by Barraine’s contemporary, Dmitri Shostakovich.”
Cristian Măcelaru says, “Elsa Barraine was not only a composer whose ingenuity and creativity demonstrate a well-conceived body of work, but a true trailblazer in her own right. She fought side by side in the French Resistance during the war and was not afraid to affirm her beliefs for a better, free world. Her music continues the trajectory of the compositional styles of her predecessors and contemporaries, while also bringing a wealth of innovation and personal touch.
“The release of this album dedicated to her compositions is the beginning of an effort to reaffirm her rightful place among the significant composers of the 20th century. Our association with her music is not just stylistically appropriate, but also personal, as Elsa Barraine worked for many years for what would later become Radio France. I hope everyone will discover this music with curiosity and appreciation, in the same way that the musicians of l’ONF and I did while working on this album.”
Barraine’s Symphony No. 1, which she began in Rome after winning the Prix de Rome and completed in Venice in 1931, reflects late French Romanticism filtered through sharp modernist edges – by turns grimacing, lyrical, and rhythmically charged.
Symphony No. 2 “Voïna,” composed in 1938 on the brink of World War II, bears the Russian subtitle for “war.” Structured around conflict, mourning, and renewal, it unfolds from a menacing Allegro to a funeral march and finally a dance-like rebirth, evoking Beethoven’s “Eroica” while speaking in an expanded tonal language shaped by the turbulent politics of its time.
Song-Koï (Le Fleuve rouge), written in 1945 for French National Radio, comprises eight orchestral variations tracing the symbolic journey of the Red River from its source to the sea. Inspired by the early struggles for independence by onetime French colonies in Indochina, the work is layered with spiritual and political symbolism, demonstrating Barraine’s mastery of orchestral color and narrative form.
Les Tziganes (1959), likely conceived for radio, is a brilliant, swirling orchestral showpiece that channels the energy and asymmetrical rhythms of Eastern European folk traditions into a vivid symphonic tableau.
Taken together, the album reveals a composer who bridges late-19th-century French romanticism, interwar neoclassicism, and mid-century harmonic expansion – deeply informed by Dukas, shaped by her proximity to Messiaen, and sharpened by political conviction. With this recording, Măcelaru and the Orchestre National de France reclaim not just a body of work, but a legacy.
A Prix de Rome laureate at just 19 and a student of Paul Dukas, Barraine stood at the center of French musical life between the two World Wars. She moved in the same circles as Olivier Messiaen and other leading composers of her generation, and worked at the French National Radio from 1936 to 1940. During the Second World War, she ceased composing to join the Resistance, co-founding the Front national des musiciens and narrowly escaping arrest.
Despite early acclaim and post-war success – including BBC performances of her Second Symphony – Barraine’s music gradually fell into neglect after her death in 1999. Some of her works have never been performed; at least one full manuscript remains unheard.
For Măcelaru, this recording marks the beginning of a sustained effort to restore Barraine to her rightful place in the repertoire. He recently opened his November 2025 Carnegie Hall appearance with the Orchestre National de France with a work by Barraine, introducing her music to a major American audience and receiving strong critical response, with Musical America calling her music “beguiling… affirming the possibility of joy even in the midst of crisis” while BachTrack praised its “anguish, ferocity and sarcasm, calling to mind works by Barraine’s contemporary, Dmitri Shostakovich.”
Cristian Măcelaru says, “Elsa Barraine was not only a composer whose ingenuity and creativity demonstrate a well-conceived body of work, but a true trailblazer in her own right. She fought side by side in the French Resistance during the war and was not afraid to affirm her beliefs for a better, free world. Her music continues the trajectory of the compositional styles of her predecessors and contemporaries, while also bringing a wealth of innovation and personal touch.
“The release of this album dedicated to her compositions is the beginning of an effort to reaffirm her rightful place among the significant composers of the 20th century. Our association with her music is not just stylistically appropriate, but also personal, as Elsa Barraine worked for many years for what would later become Radio France. I hope everyone will discover this music with curiosity and appreciation, in the same way that the musicians of l’ONF and I did while working on this album.”
Barraine’s Symphony No. 1, which she began in Rome after winning the Prix de Rome and completed in Venice in 1931, reflects late French Romanticism filtered through sharp modernist edges – by turns grimacing, lyrical, and rhythmically charged.
Symphony No. 2 “Voïna,” composed in 1938 on the brink of World War II, bears the Russian subtitle for “war.” Structured around conflict, mourning, and renewal, it unfolds from a menacing Allegro to a funeral march and finally a dance-like rebirth, evoking Beethoven’s “Eroica” while speaking in an expanded tonal language shaped by the turbulent politics of its time.
Song-Koï (Le Fleuve rouge), written in 1945 for French National Radio, comprises eight orchestral variations tracing the symbolic journey of the Red River from its source to the sea. Inspired by the early struggles for independence by onetime French colonies in Indochina, the work is layered with spiritual and political symbolism, demonstrating Barraine’s mastery of orchestral color and narrative form.
Les Tziganes (1959), likely conceived for radio, is a brilliant, swirling orchestral showpiece that channels the energy and asymmetrical rhythms of Eastern European folk traditions into a vivid symphonic tableau.
Taken together, the album reveals a composer who bridges late-19th-century French romanticism, interwar neoclassicism, and mid-century harmonic expansion – deeply informed by Dukas, shaped by her proximity to Messiaen, and sharpened by political conviction. With this recording, Măcelaru and the Orchestre National de France reclaim not just a body of work, but a legacy.
TRACK LIST:
1 .
Song-Koï: I. La source
(00:58)
2 . Song-Koï: II. La haute plaine (00:44)
3 . Song-Koï: III. Les chemins célestes (02:33)
4 . Song-Koï: IV. La ville de Son-Phong (03:30)
5 . Song-Koï: V. Le retour des pavillons noirs (01:58)
6 . Song-Koï: VI. La rivière Noire (01:45)
7 . Song-Koï: VII. Le fleuve Rouge reçoit la rivière Noire (03:01)
8 . Song-Koï: VIII. L’arrivée à la mer et la mort (01:38)
9 . Symphony No. 1: I. Andante - Vivace (09:11)
10 . Symphony No. 1: II. Adagio - Vivace (10:35)
11 . Symphony No. 1: III. Finale. Adagio - Allegro giocoso e leggiero (08:30)
12 . Symphony No. 2 ."Voïna": I. Adagio - Allegro moderato (07:21)
13 . Symphony No. 2 ."Voïna": II. Marche funèbre. Lento (05:17)
14 . Symphony No. 2 ."Voïna": III. Finale. Allegretto (04:55)
15 .Les Tziganes (04:36)
2 . Song-Koï: II. La haute plaine (00:44)
3 . Song-Koï: III. Les chemins célestes (02:33)
4 . Song-Koï: IV. La ville de Son-Phong (03:30)
5 . Song-Koï: V. Le retour des pavillons noirs (01:58)
6 . Song-Koï: VI. La rivière Noire (01:45)
7 . Song-Koï: VII. Le fleuve Rouge reçoit la rivière Noire (03:01)
8 . Song-Koï: VIII. L’arrivée à la mer et la mort (01:38)
9 . Symphony No. 1: I. Andante - Vivace (09:11)
10 . Symphony No. 1: II. Adagio - Vivace (10:35)
11 . Symphony No. 1: III. Finale. Adagio - Allegro giocoso e leggiero (08:30)
12 . Symphony No. 2 ."Voïna": I. Adagio - Allegro moderato (07:21)
13 . Symphony No. 2 ."Voïna": II. Marche funèbre. Lento (05:17)
14 . Symphony No. 2 ."Voïna": III. Finale. Allegretto (04:55)
15 .Les Tziganes (04:36)
OTHER ALBUM RELEASES:
- New Music Albums: I USED TO GO TO THIS BAR (Joyce Manor)
- New Music Albums: WARMER THAN GOLD (GUV)
- New Music Albums: WORMSLAYER (Kula Shaker)
- New Music Albums: ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT (Buzzcocks)
- New Music Albums: GOSPEL MUSIC (Joel Ross)
- New Music Albums: CAN SUCH DELIGHTFUL TIMES GO ON FOREVER ? (The Soft Pink Truth)
- New Music Albums: FOR THE FIRST TIME, AGAIN (Tyler Ballgame)
- New Music Albums: DREAM LIFE (Marta Del Grandi)
- New Music Albums: LOW CLOUDS HANG, THIS LAND IS ON FIRE (Tashi Dorji)
- New Music Albums: URGH (Mandy, Indiana)
- New Music Albums: MOVE ON WITH THE YEAR (Alice Costelloe)
- New Music Albums: TENTERHOOKS (Silversun Pickups)
- New Music Albums: LAUGHTER IN SUMMER (Beverly Glenn-Copeland)
- New Music Albums: SUNDAY BEST (Nick Jonas)
- New Music Albums: NORMAL ISN'T (Puscifer)
- New Music Albums: MANIFESTE (Tigran Hamasyan)
- New Music Albums: SINGIN' TO AN EMPTY CHAIR (Ratboys)
- New Music Albums: SUNLIGHT ECHOES (Whitelands)
- New Music Albums: THE APPLE TREE UNDER THE SEA (Hemlocke Springs)
- New Music Albums: TO WHOM THIS MAY CONCERN (Jill Scott)
- New Music Albums: CERULEAN (Danny L. Harle)
- New Music Albums: EXPANSIONS (Zo! & Tall Black Guy)
- New Music Albums: WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE (The Lone Bellow)
- New Music Albums: MASQUERADE (Cardinals)
- New Music Albums: BRITPOP (Robbie Williams)
- New Music Albums: DISCOMBOBULATED (Hen Ogledd)
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please keep the comments as civilised as possible, and refrain from spamming. All comments will be moderated. Thank you !