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Tuesday, December 5, 2017

Philippe Jaroussky - Green: Mélodies françaises sur des poèmes de Verlaine


Information

CD1:
  1. Léo Ferré - Colloque sentimental
  2. Gabriel Fauré - 5 Mélodies, Op. 58 dites 'Venise': I. Mandoline
  3. Déodat de Séverac - Prison
  4. Josef Szulc - 10 Mélodies, Op. 83: I. Clair de lune
  5. Claude Debussy - Fêtes galantes, FL. 86, Book I: I. En sourdine
  6. Claude Debussy - Fêtes galantes, FL. 86, Book I: II. Fantoches
  7. Claude Debussy - Fêtes galantes, FL. 86, Book I: III. Clair de lune
  8. Gabriel Fauré - 5 Mélodies dites "Venise", Op. 58: V. C'est l'extase
  9. Ernest Chausson - Ecoutez la chanson bien douce
  10. Gabriel Fauré - 5 Mélodies dites 'Venise', Op. 58: III. Green
  11. Charles Bordes - O triste, triste était mon âme
  12. Camille Saint-Saëns - Le vent dans la plaine
  13. Gabriel Fauré - 5 Mélodies dites "Venise", Op. 58: II. En sourdine
  14. Emmanuel Chabrier - Fisch-Ton-Kan, D. 23: "Qui je suis, qui je suis" (Fisch-Ton-Kan)
  15. Reynaldo Hahn - 7 Chansons grises: IV. En sourdine
  16. Gabriel Fauré - 2 Mélodies, Op. 83: I. Prison
  17. Claude Debussy - Mandoline, FL. 29
  18. Ernest Chausson - Apaisement
  19. Arthur Honegger - Un grand sommeil noir
  20. Gabriel Fauré - 4 Mélodies, Op. 51: III. Spleen
  21. Jules Massenet - Rêvons, c'est l'heure
  22. Edgard Varèse - Un grand sommeil noir
  23. Léo Ferré - Ecoutez la chanson bien douce
CD2:
  1. Gabriel Fauré - 2 Mélodies, Op. 46: II. Clair de lune
  2. Reynaldo Hahn - 7 Chansons grises: I. Chanson d'automne
  3. André Caplet - Green
  4. Claude Debussy - Ariettes oubliées, FL. 63: II. Il pleure dans mon coeur
  5. Irène Poldowski - L'heure exquise
  6. Irène Poldowski - Colombine
  7. Charles Trenet - Chanson d'automne
  8. Irène Poldowski - Mandoline
  9. Florent Schmitt - 3 Mélodies, Op. 4: II. Il pleure dans mon coeur
  10. Reynaldo Hahn - 20 Mélodies, Book I: XVI. D'une prison
  11. Emmanuel Chabrier - Fisch-Ton-Kan, D. 23: "J'engraisse" (Poussah)
  12. Charles Koechlin - 4 Mélodies, Op. 22: IV. Il pleure dans mon coeur
  13. Gabriel Fauré - La Bonne Chanson, Op. 61: III. La lune blanche luit dans les bois
  14. Charles Bordes - Promenade sentimentale
  15. Claude Debussy - Ariettes oubliées, FL. 63: V. Aquarelles, 1: Green
  16. Joseph Canteloube - Colloque sentimental
  17. Claude Debussy - Fêtes galantes, FL. 114, Book II: I. Les Ingénus
  18. Claude Debussy - Fêtes galantes, FL. 114, Book II: II. Le Faune
  19. Claude Debussy - Fêtes galantes, FL. 114, Book II: III. Colloque Sentimental
  20. Georges Brassens - Colombine

Philippe Jaroussky, countertenor
Jérôme Ducros, piano
Quatuor Ebène
Nathalie Stutzmann, alto

Date: 2015
Label: Erato

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Review

Philippe Jaroussky clearly subscribes to the habit-forming appeal of French art song, having titled his first recorded recital ‘Opium’, and now with a much larger and more ambitious two-disc set named after absinthe. Intoxicating? Utterly. Delirious? Not at all. Everything about this set – song selection, sequencing and lavish packaging – is meticulously thought out in what may be the single most appealing and important French song recital this side of the largely excellent but sometimes uneven Fauré and Debussy discs on Hyperion. At the outset, one must give up expectations of hearing the velvety tones of Gérard Souzay or Maggie Teyte. Jaroussky is best comparable to Natalie Dessay: the sound itself hasn’t great dimension but shows every sign of meeting the expressive demands of his considerable imagination – and with more confidence and precision than in the ‘Opium’ recital. But just as Jaroussky has clearly put much consideration and thought to this collection, so must the listener.

More popular Verlaine poems – ‘En sourdine’, ‘Clair de lune’, ‘Green’ and ‘Colloque sentimental’ – are heard in two or three versions. But since this is an album to be enjoyed rather than an academic exercise, sensible sequencing is the first priority and means that the different versions are sprinkled throughout the two discs. The booklet contains all text translations but they are printed in alphabetical order rather than in the order of the disc.

I skipped around the discs to hear the often diametrically opposed approaches to the same poem, frequently being torn between preferring one over the other, so convincing are so many of the songs on their own terms. Musical responses indeed depart from the composer’s better-known output: no flowing Auvergne melodies come from Canteloube in ‘Colloque sentimental’, a version that addresses the poem’s contrasting voices literally, though always poetically.

‘Prison’ shows Fauré dispensing with his usual veneer with unguarded expressions of unresolved anguish while Hahn concentrates on the exterior simplicity of the village life described in the poem. Koechlin’s version of ‘Il pleure dans mon coeur’ has eloquent simplicity and depth, though Schmitt maintains a questionably urbane surface while Debussy puts the song in a poetically ambiguous netherworld.

Certain patterns emerge: in the settings of ‘En sourdine’, Fauré frames his flowing word-settings with familiar musical devices (arpeggios, etc) while Debussy has vocal lines of a similar character but without any frame. Hahn brings back certain frames – even following ABA song format – but with a highly impressionistic eight-note ostinato that veers between major and minor in response to the opening line’s description of half lights.

Not everything is wonderful. The ‘Un grand sommeil noir’ setting by Varèse shows the composer as a flicker of his future self (it’s a student work). Nathalie Stutzmann’s cameo appearance in Massenet’s duet version of ‘La lune blanche’ brings welcome variety but her voice hardly matches with Jaroussky’s and the music itself is hardly Massenet’s best. Though Charles Trenet’s version of ‘Chanson d’automne’ is wilfully gauche (even changing Verlaine’s words), each CD ends with more successful pop-song versions of Verlaine, the best being Brassens’s ‘Colombine’.

Throughout, Jaroussky’s singing is immaculate, the singer and the song heard in a seamless bond, always beautifully supported by Jérôme Ducros with occasional string quartet arrangements of songs that tend to turn up the heat in the visual imagery, occasionally inspiring the Ebène Quartet towards jazzy Stéphane Grappelli-style fantasy. Some arrangements are credited to Jaroussky himself. Is that a good indication of how close this project is to his heart?

-- David Patrick Stearns, Gramophone

More reviews:
BBC Music Magazine  PERFORMANCE: ***** / RECORDING: *****
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2015/Oct/Green_2564616695.htm
https://www.allmusic.com/album/green-m%C3%A9lodies-fran%C3%A7aises-sur-des-po%C3%A8mes-de-verlaine-mw0002817276

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Philippe Jaroussky (born 13 February 1978) is a French countertenor. He began his musical career with the violin, winning an award at the Versailles conservatory and then took up the piano before turning to singing. Jaroussky was inspired to sing by the Martinique-born countertenor Fabrice di Falco. He received his diploma from the Early Music Faculty of the Conservatoire de Paris. Jaroussky is noted for a virtuosic coloratura technique and for compelling and enlivened interpretations of baroque cantatas and operas. He was awarded "The Best Singer of the Year" at the Echo Klassik Awards, 2008 and 2016.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippe_Jaroussky
http://www.philippejaroussky.fr/

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5 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Good day!
    Al the LINKSHRINK links are dead.
    Would you please, PLEASE PLEASE be so kind as to repost through MEGA?
    I know it's demanding, but it is really many marvels of this blog's trove
    that are not accessible anymore...
    Many thankls in advance!
    Very cordially,
    Alex

    ReplyDelete
  3. Would it be possible to upload these missing links again?
    Many thanks in advance!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Choose one link, copy it to your browser's address bar, wait 5 seconds, then click on 'Skip Ad' (or 'Continue') (top right).
    If you are asked to download anything, IGNORE, only download from file hosting site (mega.nz).
    If MEGA shows 'Bandwidth Limit Exceeded' message, try to create a free account.

    CD1
    http://thacorag.com/2Oid
    or
    https://ouo.io/3F7DU5
    or
    http://uii.io/pJGtPn

    CD2
    http://thacorag.com/2Oie
    or
    https://ouo.io/ABCnTGF
    or
    http://uii.io/JS1ERS

    ReplyDelete