"As I pointed out in a recent review of ballet music by Delibes and Ravel, Ernest Ansermet found his métier in French music composed during the past two centuries. This collection of famous French overtures spanning the mid-to-late Romantic era appears as part of the Ansermet Legacy from Australian Eloquence. In a nutshell, what listeners will be able to experience is evidence of the conductor's ability to fulfil his own mission: 'to touch the heart of the music so as to make its heartbeats heard by the listener.' 

The OSR - easily mistaken for an orchestra of French origin - is recorded in the spellbinding acoustic of the Victoria Hall, Geneva. The sessions took place before personality and national style were drained out of orchestras, a phenomenon that fatally erupted during the ensuing years of the late 1960s and into the 1970s. The Swiss orchestra was renowned for its renditions of French repertoire. Two reasons help to explain this reputation. First, it benefited from the personal affiliations that Ansermet had established with living French composers of his day including Debussy and Ravel. Second, there was the characteristic nasal sound which typified French orchestras of this era, which this orchestra also manifested. There is every evidence that these Swiss musicians cared for these overtures as if they were national treasures - which they are. Ansermet's critical analysis and his annotation of the scores was evidence of his meticulous love and care for these musical testaments.  

Hérold's Zampa is given with great conviction with its broad array of orchestral and harmonic colors, unfolding the story of seduction and the supernatural elements underlying the plot. Likewise, Thomas's Mignon and Offenbach's La belle Hélène emerge as delightful musical silhouette-plays, alive with qualities that one would instantly identify as Gallic: lucid melodies, musical clarity, concision and grace. Many of these overtures - except those of Lalo's Le Roi d'Ys or Offenbach's Orphée aux enfers - are not performed as readily nowadays as they were a century ago. It is a sad pity that many of today's orchestras do not feel strongly enough to programme these lovely orchestral bonbons in their regular concert seasons. Famous they may be; fashionable they're not. Suffice to say that effective readings of Lalo's Le Roi d'Y and Offenbach's La belle Hélène are the major highlights of this album. Ansermet and his orchestra tap into the high drama of these overture while retaining their intrinsic charm, especially so in the latter example which is a musical narrative recreating events underpinning the Trojan War. 

All of these recordings have been digitally remastered with sensitivity by James Walker and the sound is excellent, truly worthy even meeting audiophile expectations.

The releases include rudimentary yet effective cover art, and the liner-notes, penned by scholarly authors, are both entertaining and informative. The music is the hook, though, so stay tuned for more archival recordings of Ernest Ansermet as Eloquence continue to unlock the Decca treasure chests."

Patrick P.L. Lam , MusicWeb International