Henri Rabaud’s (1873-1949) reputation, such as it is, rests on his comic opera Marouf, The Cobbler of Cairo, and to some extent on the dreamy La Procession nocturne (based on Lenau’s Faust, as with Liszt’s tone poem of the same title), which has received a couple of recordings—Dervaux did it for EMI, for example. The Second Symphony of 1897 is interesting in that it shows relatively little influence of the Franck/D’Indy school. Rabaud was the child of Conservatoire musicians and a student of Massenet. His scoring and sound are less thick and “Germanic” than that of the Franckists, but his handling of form leaves a lot to be desired.
The Second Symphony, in common with so many forgettable late-romantic works, features a lovely, lyrical slow movement and a charming scherzo, but the outer movements are pretty dire. Sonata-form clearly was not Rabaud’s strong suit. The need to “develop”, combined with a healthy dose of misplaced Wagnerism, results in a pair of outer movements based on unmemorable motives that have little emotional appeal and that Rabaud can do little more than repeat monotonously. The finale, after a hefty dose of Sturm und Drang, embarks on an allegedly “transfigured” apotheosis that is as unconvincing as it is prosaically scored. No way is this a masterpiece.
That said, the disc has value for fans of French romanticism and little-known orchestral music. You may not listen to it often, but I can imagine collectors choosing this to enhance their libraries. Certainly the performances leave little to be desired. The Sofia Philharmonic is hardly world-class, but it plays well under Nicolas Couton. He sounds comfortable with the idiom, and he presents those two charming inner movements of the symphony in a very positive light. Both the Procession nocturne and the pastoral Églogue come off well too, even if they make a rather droopy sequence. A good effort, then, even if the cause might be a bit dubious.
