César Franck - Complete Songs & Duets (Tassis Christoyannis; Véronique Gens; Jeff Cohen)

Information

Composer: César Franck

CD1:

1. Les cloches du soir, FWV 75
2. Nocturne, FWV 85
3. Le vase brisé, FWV 84
4. Roses et papillons, FWV 81
5. Le mariage des roses, FWV 80
6. L'émir de Bengador, FWV 72
7. Ninon, FWV 71
8. Lied, FWV 83
9. Robin Gray, FWV 74
10. S’il est un charmant gazon, FWV 78 (I)
11. S’il est un charmant gazon, FWV 78 (II)
12. Aimer, FWV 76
13. Six Duos, FWV 89: VI. La Chanson du vannier
14. Six Duos, FWV 89: I. L’Ange gardien
15. Six Duos, FWV 89: II. Aux petits enfants
16. Six Duos, FWV 89: III. La Vierge à la crèche
17. Six Duos, FWV 89: IV. Les Danses de Lormont
18. Six Duos, FWV 89: V. Soleil

CD2:

1. L’ange et l’enfant, FWV 75
2. Passez ! passez toujours !, FWV 82
3. Souvenance, FWV 70
4. Pour les victimes, FWV 86
5. Paris, FWV 79
6. Patria, CFF 159
7. Les trois exilés, FWV 77
8. À cette terre où l’on ploie sa tente
9. Le sylphe, FWV 73
10. La procession, FWV 88

Tassis Christoyannis, baritone

Véronique Gens, soprano

Jeff Cohen, piano

Date: 2022

Label: Palazzetto Bru Zane

https://bru-zane.com/en/pubblicazione/integrale-delle-melodie-e-dei-duetti-di-cesar-franck/

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Review

Bru Zane’s first contribution to this year’s Franck bicentenary is this fine survey of his songs, a form with which, it would seem, he was not always entirely at ease. He composed them sporadically throughout his career, and published a small collection in 1862, though some did not appear in print until after his death, and one, ‘Pour les victimes’, written for a fundraiser for victims of the Opéra-Comique fire in 1887, was only rediscovered shortly before this recording was made. The only group specifically intended as a set was the Six Duos of 1888, very much aimed at domestic amateur performance.

Overall, they are unquestionably uneven. Certain characteristics dictate weaknesses as well as strengths: dominant vocal lines hovering between melody and declamation; chordal or arpeggiated accompaniments, some effective, some unvarying; an intermittent fondness for lengthy strophic forms that run the risk of becoming repetitive. The harmonic language can be strikingly original, though: the shimmering arpeggios of ‘L’ange et l’enfant’, for instance, sound almost Impressionist: it comes as a jolt to discover that it dates from as early as 1846.

Franck has been castigated for being indiscriminate in his choice of texts, though he composed fine settings of Victor Hugo (‘À cette terre où l’on ploie sa tente’ and two versions of ‘S’il est un charmant gazon’), Sully Prudhomme (‘Le vase brisé’) and Alfred de Musset (‘Ninon’). He could also, on occasion, turn an indifferent poem to gold, as in ‘Le mariage des roses’, though there are also occasions when sentimentality or religiosity can get in the way, most notably perhaps in the Six Duos. There are a handful of political songs. The overlong ‘Les trois exilés’ questionably hails the return of the Napoleonic spirit to France on the foundation of the Second Empire in 1848, while ‘Paris’ and ‘Patria’ (another Hugo setting) are meditations, by turns grieving and defiant, on France’s defeat in the Franco-Prussian War.

Tassis Christoyannis and Jeff Cohen, meanwhile, have become Bru Zane’s interpreters of choice for their forays into the song repertory and their interpretations have the same finesse and expressive detail that we find in their surveys of Hahn (3/20) and La Tombelle (7/17). If anything, Christoyannis’s upper registers sound easier here than on the Hahn set, and his dynamic shading is immaculate, from the beautiful yet sinister mezza voce he deploys in ‘L’ange et l’enfant’ to suggest the insidious way the angel draws the dying child into the afterlife, to the roaring fury of the climax of ‘Paris’. That ‘Les trois exilés’ seems interminable is Franck’s responsibility, not his.

Cohen matches his approach throughout, as careful dynamic gradations breathe life into Franck’s sometimes repetitive piano figurations to underscore verbal shifts and emotional subtleties. Véronique Gens joins them for the Duos, finely done despite the cloying sentiments, and is also given what the booklet calls ‘a cameo’ in the form of the first version of ‘S’il est un charmant gazon’, sung with admirable poise. The recording uses a critical edition by Jean-Philippe Navarre, who also supplies the extensive notes. They don’t always make an ideal listening guide, however, as he discusses the songs chronologically, while the recording is very differently structured, with the Duos and shorter songs on the first disc, their longer counterparts on the second. The best of it is fascinating, though, and it’s all beautifully done.

-- Tim Ashley, Gramophone

More reviews:

http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2022/Jul/Franck-songs-BZ2003.htm

https://www.classical-music.com/reviews/choral-song/franck-complete-songs-duets/

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/mar/31/franck-complete-songs-and-duets-review-tassis-christoyannis-veronique-gens-jeff-cohen

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César Franck (10 December 1822 – 8 November 1890) was a composer, pianist, organist, and music teacher who worked in Paris during his adult life. As an organist he was particularly noted for his skill in improvisation. Franck is considered by many the greatest composer of organ music after Bach. Franck exerted a significant influence on music. He helped to renew and reinvigorate chamber music and developed the use of cyclic form. He became professor at the Paris Conservatoire in 1872, his pupils included Vincent d'Indy, Ernest Chausson, Louis Vierne, Charles Tournemire, Guillaume Lekeu and Henri Duparc.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/César_Franck

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Tassis Christoyannis (born Athens, 1967) is a Greek operatic baritone. He studied conducting and composing at the Athens Conservatory and singing with Aldo Protti, winning the Aldo Protti Gold Medal in 1994. He was a member of Greek National Opera from 1995 to 1999, and has been principal baritone of Deutsche Opera am Rhein since 2000. He has performed in concert around the world, including at Carnegie Hall, New York. In addition to operatic roles he is known for his recordings of French melodies with American pianist Jeff Cohen, primarily for the Palazzetto Bru Zane and Aparté.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tassis_Christoyannis
http://www.roh.org.uk/people/tassis-christoyannis

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Véronique Gens (born 19 April 1966) is a French operatic soprano. Gens was born in Orléans, France, and studied at the Conservatoire de Paris, winning first prize at the school. Her debut in 1986 was with William Christie and his Les Arts Florissants. She has since worked with Marc Minkowski, René Jacobs, Christophe Rousset, Philippe Herreweghe, and Jean-Claude Malgoire. While she started out as a Baroque specialist, Gens has also come into demand for roles in Mozart operas, and as an interpreter of songs by Berlioz, Debussy, Fauré and others. Her recordings include many works by Mozart and Purcell.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Véronique_Gens
https://www.veroniquegens.com/

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