| Chœur de la Radio Flamande | |
| François-Xavier Roth | Direction |
| Les Siècles | |
| Jean-Marie Winling | Récitant |
| Josef Wagner | Baryton-basse |
| Chantal Santon-Jeffery | Soprano |
| Julien Behr | Ténor |
Félicien David is one of those composers who rose to fame, and has remained there, thanks to a single work: he is the man behind Désert, an ode-symphony that – it is said – launched the fashion of incorporating oriental elements into classical compositions.
Three years after Désert, David once again achieved success, again with an ode-symphony. Now he has taken as his topic Christopher Columbus and his discovery of the New World. After its premiere at the Opéra-Comique in Paris, the work soon became popular throughout France. To top it off, David was awarded a Legion of Honour by King Louis-Philippe.
The ode-symphony was a genre invented by David: he took the classical oratorio and crossed it with a liberal dose of melodrama. Where Beethoven used music to describe his characters, David offered entire scenes that could be seen with the ears: from vast dry deserts to immense oceans. If one were to put one’s finger on the distinctive features of David’s music, it would be his talent as poet that would have to be emphasised, which paradoxically enough combines a deep nostalgia with a hypnotic calm – a feature reminiscent of the best of Schubert.
