Composer: Hector Berlioz, Maurice Ravel, Charles Camille Saint-Saëns
Performer: Marie-Nicole Lemieux
Orchestra: Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo
Conductor: Kazuki Yamada
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Erato
Catalogue: 5419765940
Release: 2023
Size: 664 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Berlioz: Les Nuits d’été, Op. 7
01. I. Villanelle, H 82b
02. II. Le spectre de la rose, H 83b
03. III. Sur les lagunes, H 84b
04. IV. Absence, H 85b
05. V. Au cimetière, H 86b
06. VI. L’île inconnue, H 87b
Saint-Saëns: Melodies Persanes Op. 26
07. Prélude
08. No. 1, La brise
09. No. 2, La splendeur vide
10. No. 3, La solitaire
11. No. 4, Sabre en main
12. Interlude
13. No. 5, Au cimetière
14. No. 6, Tournoiement
Ravel: Shéhérazade
15. No. 1, Asie
16. No. 2, La flûte enchantée
17. No. 3, L’indifférent
This is a nicely programmed album consisting of French song cycles spaced several decades apart from the 19th and early 20th centuries. One of them, the Mélodies Persanes (“Persian Songs”) of Saint-Saëns, is not a common item; with its bouncy text-setting, nobody would compare it to the deep Eastern influences woven into various Ravel works, but then, Ravel was inspired to execute those by listening to Saint-Saëns. In Berlioz’s Les nuits d’été and Ravel’s Shéhérazade, contralto Marie-Nicole Lemieux has plenty of competition, but there is less for the Saint-Saëns. Another attraction is the work of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo under conductor Kazumi Yamada, neither a household name. The group is velvety smooth in the Berlioz cycle, with quiet and perfectly controlled string sound throughout. The strings match the voice of Lemieux beautifully; both have a luxuriance that fits the extravagantly Romantic texts of the Berlioz. So, everything is in place here, and listeners’ reactions to the whole are likely to come down to their feelings about Lemieux’s voice itself. It has a rapid, confident vibrato that is remarkably pitch-accurate as it moves up and down within her range. To these ears, it is beautiful. It also doesn’t vary much according to the text; the Saint-Saëns songs and Ravel’s Asie, which are intended to evoke exotic melodic traits, sound much like the Berlioz. A bit of sampling will likely determine one’s enjoyment of the album in general, and there are certainly many things to like here.
The Canadian contralto Marie-Nicole Lemieux, with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo and its Artistic and Music Director Kazuki Yamada, interprets the now ‘traditional’ recorded pairing of two sumptuous, escapist French song cycles: Berlioz’s Les Nuits d’été and Ravel’s Shéhérazade. Complementing them both musically and thematically is a third, less frequently heard cycle by another great French composer, Camille Saint-Saëns: his Mélodies Persanes (Persian Songs). “From the first note to the last, Lemieux’s interpretation of the Berlioz was exemplary …” wrote Bachtrack when she performed Les Nuits d’été in Paris. “From the depths of her lower register to her shimmering high notes, she traced a supple trajectory through the work, phrasing with amplitude and missing no opportunity for word-painting.”
Palazzetto Bru Zane’s new edition of the cycle Saint-Saëns: Mélodies Persanes presented here, is a premiere recording, it gathers these orchestrations of the songs but restores the original piano-vocal order, repurposing two brief interludes from Nuit Persane to serve as an orchestral introduction and transition.