Élie Cohen conducts the Paris Symphony Orchestra in the Ballet Music from ‘Orphée et Eurydice,’ recorded on 12 April 1929. The flute solo is by Marcel Moyse.
From Wikipedia: Élie Cohen was a conductor, principally active in the field of opera in France during the inter-war years and made many recordings.
Cohen made his debut at the Opéra-Comique on 7 August 1922 with Lakmé and continued to conduct there up to 1940…
He conducted the Opéra de Nice from at least the 1936/1937 season, an example of which was an all-Ravel opera and ballet evening in 1937. His appointment there was warmly welcomed by both public and critics. Outside France he conducted Lakmé in Geneva in 1934 with Vina Bovy in the title role. He was listed as an assistant conductor of the Orchestre Radio-symphonique-lyrique which was evacuated along with many other musicians to Rennes in September 1939 just after the opening of hostilities.
Cohen was a regular conductor of French opera for Columbia in the 1920s and 30s. Notable among Cohen’s recordings are complete versions of Carmen (1928, missing the dialogue and Act 1 finale; the Flower Song is conducted by Gaubert), Manon (1932), and Werther (1931), where his achievement of ‘unforced, eloquently expressive, forwardly-placed French word-singing’ has been much praised. He may also be found directing the accompaniment to recorded operatic excerpts sung by French singers of the period, and some Songs of the Auvergne with Madeleine Grey.
Marcel Moyse (May 17, 1889, in St. Amour, France – November 1, 1984, in Brattleboro, Vermont, United States) was a French flautist. Moyse studied at the Paris Conservatory and was a student of Philippe Gaubert, Adolphe Hennebains, and Paul Taffanel; all of whom were flute virtuosos in their time. Moyse played principal flute in various Paris orchestras and appeared widely as a soloist and made many recordings. His trademark tone was clear, flexible, penetrating, and controlled by a fast vibrato. This was a characteristic of the ‘French style’ of flute playing that was to influence the modern standard for flautists worldwide.
Moyse taught on the faculty of the Conservatoire de Musique du Québec à Montréal, and was a founder of the Marlboro Music School and festival in Vermont. Moyse strove to teach his students ‘not how to play the flute, but to make music.’
I transferred this recording from Australian Columbia DOX 61.
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Extraordinary upload by a very rare conductor! many thanks Dear Friend!
Thanks! Very nice orchestral playing. And it's good to hear Dance of the Blessed Spirits played on the flute.
Lovely playing by Moyse père. The continuous (though elegant) vibrato is interesting, given that German flautists used hardly any vibrato as late as the 1940s. Thanks for uploading!