Some Musings on Ottorino Respighi’s La Boutique Fantasque

During the Christmas school holidays in 1972/3, I heard a Radio Three broadcast of Rossini, arr. Respighi’s Ballet: La boutique fantasque. I was bowled over by this attractive and vibrant score. I have since discovered that it was played from gramophone records by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Sir Eugene Goossens. That was on 29 December 1972, at 8:05 pm. I remember rushing into Glasgow the following day. It was a Saturday. I went into Cuthbertson’s Music Shop (sadly, long gone) in Cambridge Street. Unable to find the Goossens recording, I found in the browsers was a Decca Eclipse LP (ECS 529) of the work. The London Symphony Orchestra was conducted by Ernest Ansermet. It cost 99p, which would be about £14 at today’s prices. I was delighted see that it also included Maurice Ravel’s Bolero and Paul Dukas’s The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. These were both works I had heard in the music department at Coatbridge High School. 

I did not know it then, but the original recording had been made at the Kingsway Hall, London, between 20-22 July 1950. It had been released on one of the early 10” LP records to find their way into British shops. (LXT255). This was given a glowing review in The Gramophone (March 1951, p.225). Lionel Salter considered that “for the benefit of those readers whose main concern with records appears to be technical rather than musical, let me say at once that I consider this disc to be one of the outstanding achievements so far of LP recording, a landmark to be reckoned alongside that first Petrouchka [LXT 2501] last July which so took our breaths away. Here IS the actual sound of an orchestra as it really is, full-bodied and vivid. It is not merely that every detail is clear and that every instrument is given its true colour, but in addition, there is a stereoscopic sense of perspective which, if you shut your eyes, could deceive you into thinking yourself in the concert hall. When, on top of this, the performance is as good as it is here, and the music popular and attractive, the results should gladden the heart of Decca's sales manager.”  

The LP was also issued in the United States on the London Label, LLP 274. High Fidelity (July August 1953 p.64) reported that “The delightful, and often impish melodies of Rossini that constitute the basis for Respighi’s confection, La Boutique Fantasque (The Magic Toyshop) make an ideal starter. This infectiously gay and vivacious work is performed to utter perfection under the admirable Ansermet direction, and London [label], rising to the occasion, has bedecked it with super ffrr [Full frequency range recording] sound…” 

Around 1970, it was ‘re-mastered’ in ‘electronic stereo,’ which was really an attempt at making the old monaural recordings sound better by adding reverberation and ‘tinkering’ with frequency levels. Some reviewers felt that the original recordings were ruined by this ‘Electronically Reprocessed Stereo.’ 

The Decca Eclipse record cover is of Nutley Woods in Surrey. It is part of the “real” Hundred Acre Wood of Winnie the Pooh fame. 

The story of La Boutique Fantasque revolves around a toyshop, in Nice, on the Mediterranean coast. It is set in the mid-nineteenth century. Two of the dolls, both Can-Can dancers, are madly in love with each other. Devastatingly, they are purchased by two different customers and are doomed to be separated for ever. The girl is destined for a rich American family and the boy for a Russian merchant and his children. The dolls are due to be parceled up and collected the next day. Strange things happen during the night: all the toys begin to come to life, and they release the lovers. When the buyers return, the Can-Can dancers are gone. Naturally, they are irate and accuse the proprietor of cheating. The dolls come to his air. The families flee from the shop. The rest of the toys dance with delight with their maker.

The music for the ballet was devised by Ottorino Respighi in 1918. He freely adapted several piano pieces from Gioachino Rossini’s (1792-1868) Péchés de vieillesse (Sins of Old Age) (1857-68). The ballet, with choreography by Leonide Massine, was premiered by the Ballet Russe at the Alhambra Theatre in London on 5 June 1919.

This post is about Respighi’s La Boutique Fantasque; however, I recall enjoying the Ansermet’s performances of Ravel Bolero and Dukas’s Sorcerer’s Apprentice. That said, the Disney version of this latter work will always be my favourite, and that is despite its age. Back then, it was played by a scratch 100-piece orchestra of Los Angeles-based session musicians and was conducted by Leopold Stokowski. It was recorded during January 1938 at the Pathe Studios in Culver City, California.

Finally, when moving house many years ago, I got rid of this LP along with many more). Fortunately, Ansermet’s recording of La Boutique is available on SOMM (SOMMCD027) and YouTube. This latter is taken from the Ace of Clubs reissue in 1958 (ACL7).