André Cluytens

André Cluytens (French pronunciation: ​[ɑ̃dʁe klɥitɛ̃s], Dutch pronunciation: [ɑn'dreː 'klœytəns]; born Augustin Zulma Alphonse Cluytens; 26 March 1905 – 3 June 1967) was a Belgian-born French conductor who was active in the concert hall, opera house and recording studio.

Hector Berlioz (1803-1869) was the author of the text to his choral work L'Enfance du Christ (The Childhood of Christ), he did not like to call it an Oratorio, and composed the music between 1850 and 1854.

André Cluytens (French pronunciation: ​[ɑ̃dʁe klɥitɛ̃s], Dutch pronunciation: [ɑn'dreː 'klœytəns]; born Augustin Zulma Alphonse Cluytens; 26 March 1905 – 3 June 1967) was a Belgian-born French conductor who was active in the concert hall, opera house and recording studio.

André Cluytens (pronunciation: [ɑn'dreː 'klœytəns]) (born March 26, 1905 in Antwerp – † June 3, 1967 in Neuilly-sur-Seine) was a Belgian-French conductor.

André Cluytens (pronounced clue-ton) was a Belgian-born conductor who rose from leading a theater orchestra to become one of the more important orchestra leaders in Europe during the 1950s and 1960s, with equally enduring contributions in both the concert hall and the opera house. Born in Antwerp in 1905, he trained as a pianist at the Royal Flemish Conservatory and in his teens served as assistant to his father, the conductor at the Royal Theater in Antwerp. After becoming first conductor at the theater, he moved to France and served in opera houses in Lyon, Bordeaux, and Vichy, and later settled in Paris and took French citizenship.

A troupe where everyone acts as much as they sing, illuminated by a dream trial (Bourvil!) and the devilish gesture of Cluytens, set the standard for the Tales in 1948. Offenbach having died before having finished and ordered the score of his Tales of Hoffmann, it was Ernest Guiraud who was tasked with making it “viable”. In February 1881, the first spectators discovered a largely mutilated work: in addition to significant cuts in the prologue and the epilogue (which take place in a Nuremberg tavern), the entire last act – that of Giulietta, the Venetian courtesan, in whose home the poet has his reflection stolen – had been discarded. Only the Barcarolle survived, slipped between the acts of Olympia (the mechanical doll who ends up smashed) and Antonia (the young consumptive who dies from having sung). In 1907, the score published by Éditions Choudens transformed the spoken dialogues into recitatives (composed by Guiraud), inserted the air “Scintille diamant” (added by Gunsbourg) and restored Giulietta’s act, admittedly condensed and inserted between those of Olympia and Antonia. It is this version that Les Contes d’Hoffmann, recorded in March 1948, document. The disc preceded their revival at the Salle Favart, in a staging directed by Louis Musy and under the quicksilver baton of André Cluytens. The cast brings together a “troupe” welded together by the spirit of the theatre, the relief and colour of the word: everyone here plays as much as they sing.

André Cluytens leads the Berliner Philharmoniker in this stunning legacy recording of Schubert and Liszt.

André Cluytens (pronounced clue-ton) was a Belgian-born conductor who rose from leading a theater orchestra to become one of the more important orchestra leaders in Europe during the 1950s and 1960s, with equally enduring contributions in both the concert hall and the opera house. Born in Antwerp in 1905, he trained as a pianist at the Royal Flemish Conservatory and in his teens served as assistant to his father, the conductor at the Royal Theater in Antwerp.

December 10th 2022 marks César Franck’s bicentenary. In the run up to this, we will celebrate the great French-Belgian composer with numerous iconic re-issues demonstrating Franck’s genius.