When it comes to French composer
Darius Milhaud, one often reads about how prolific he was compared to others working in his time -- it appears
Milhaud would never struggle over a work with a deadline looming, preferring to submit it in any presentable state achieved by that time. As a result, the quality of his work can be variable. Mainly his reputation rests on pieces fashioned in the early '20s and mid- to late '30s, and four of these cornerstone works may be found on Naxos' Milhaud: La Création du monde in performances by the
Orchestre National de Lille led by
Jean-Claude Casadesus.
In terms of the selection, it is very well made to represent
Milhaud the composer, although it lacks the Scaramouche Suite, easily available on any number of releases. However, in the 1920s works L'Homme et son désir, La Création du monde, and Le boeuf sur le toit,
Casadesus doesn't take any risks, not a good thing in music that was itself risky when it was written. The tempi are careful and bland, and the pieces are played stiffly with no swing to them.
Casadesus and the
Orchestre National de Lille do much better in the Suite provençale, which is more conservative in style and probably better suited to this group than the others. But that only accounts for 15 of this disc's 68 minutes, and the works are better served elsewhere, perhaps best of all on
Milhaud's own recordings. L'Homme et son désir in particular is a train wreck, and the smug showboating of tenor
Mathias Vidal in the wordless chorus is so irritating one wants to reach up and smack him. If one doesn't have a good Suite provençale, and this is one of
Milhaud's most eloquent statements, and very nicely done here, the expense of the Naxos disc is not so great as to hinder the purchase for just the one work. For the other pieces though, almost anything else is preferable.