Pierné's chamber opera Sophie Arnould is a setting of a sweet verse play about two lovers long parted who meet again on the verge of their old age. Its pastel music matches the play's understated, bittersweet tone, but the composer rarely allows it to take lyrical flight. The text setting primarily consists of a meandering parlando. There are some lovely moments, but there's little sense of dramatic or musical direction, so the moments don't add up to a great deal.
Sophie Marin-Degor makes the most of the title role and sings with sweet tone. As her former lover, Jean-Sébastien Bou for the most part sings with warmth, but occasionally seems to lack vocal control and produces some unlovely sounds. Ballet de Cour is a suite of orchestral pieces in the form of Baroque dances. In it, Pierné aims very much for the same effect as
Ravel's Tombeau de Couperin -- updated versions of classic dances, a rigaudon, passepied, "Le Canarie," pavane, saltarello, menuet, and passa-mezzo. The composer isn't as audacious in his transformation of the old forms as
Ravel, and the result is less compelling, but it's a charming suite nonetheless.
Nicolas Chalvin leads
Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg in a committed performance, but the intonation in the violins' upper register is sometimes dubious.