The Limelight Recording of the Month for January 2024 is a double disc of French symphonic poems from the Orchestre National de Lyon under their music director, Danish violinist and conductor Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider. The genre took a little longer to take off in France than in Germany and more Germanophile countries like Britain, but once the idea had taken root, French composers were quick to jump on the bandwagon. This deftly curated compilation from the ever-enterprising Palazetto Bru Zane is the perfect introduction, mixing popular standards with rarities and intriguing gems by female composers. Clive Paget caught up with Szeps-Znaider to talk repertoire and rediscoveries.

How did the project come about?

It was always my intention to do something based on the heritage of the orchestra, but something a little bit different from the expected Ravel and Debussy warhorses. And then the idea came from Bru Zane to focus on tone poems. The way it was presented spoke to me: some famous tone poems by famous composers, some famous tone poems by not-famous composers, some non-famous tone poems by famous composers, and finally [laughs] some non-famous tone poems by composers who are not well-known.