A u d i o
Playlist
A curated playlist by Chez DAMASE of more than seven hours of music by Jean-Michel Damase on Spotify.
Exclusive recordings
Complete version of the ballet, La croqueuse de diamants (The Gold Digger), written in 1950 by Jean-Michel Damase and taken from the soundtrack of 1961 film Black Tights (also known as Un, Deux, Trois, Quatre). As this is a recording from the film soundtrack, it includes some sound effects not included in the score.
Apart from the film's soundtrack (unreleased), the complete ballet has never been recorded. The suite from the ballet was recorded once in 1958 and released on Columbia (France).
Although their scenarios are different, musically, La croqueuse de diamants is a French counterpart to Gershwin's An American in Paris and deserves a similar place in the repertoire.
Zizi Jeanmaire, vocal: "La croqueuse de diamants"
L'Orchestre des Concerts Lamoureux
Marius Constant, conductor
NOTE: This recording was made from a film believed to be in the public domain. It is made available with the hope that it will educate and inspire future performances or recordings. Any other use is not permitted.
The International Silk Association commissioned Jean-Michel Damase to compose this "Silk Rhapsody" to "illustrate" its Xth Congress which took place in the spring of 1966 in the form of a cruise in the Eastern Mediterranean.
Damase composes in a style often compared to Poulenc and Fauré – and accessibility is certainly one quality he shares with them. While some Eastern influences are worked in to the piece, Silk Rhapsody is pure Damase: lush harmonies, unexpected modulation, both sweeping melodic lines and the often-noted "obsessive" motifs, rich orchestration, and subtle virtuosity demanding much of the performers that breezes, as it should, right past the casual listener.
This is the work's only recording, released by Erato (France).
Performers:
Orchestre de l'Association des Concerts Lamoureux
Jean-Michel Damase, conductor
NOTE: This recording is believed to be in the public domain. It is made available for educational purposes with the hope that it may inspire future performances or recordings. Any other use, aside from embedding official SoundCloud widgets or code, is not permitted.
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