Véronique Gens - Visions
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BRUNEAU / FRANCK / GODARD / MASSENET / BIZET / etc
Véronique Gens - Visions
Véronique Gens (soprano), Münchner Rundfunkorchester, Hervé Niquet
[ Alpha Classics / CD ]
Release Date: Friday 23 June 2017
After an album of French songs (Néère, Alpha 215) that earned her a Gramophone Award in 2016, Véronique Gens presents her new recital, this time with orchestra, which gives her an opportunity to display the maturity of her 'Falcon' soprano, the central tessitura typical of French Romantic opera, which takes its name from Cornélie Falcon, who created the works of Meyerbeer and Halévy staged in the 1830s.
She pays tribute here to a number of composers whose unknown operas she was the first to reveal in projects mounted by the Palazzetto Bru Zane (which also coproduced the present recording), including David, Godard, Saint-Saëns and Halévy. The programme selects arias from all the genres in vogue in the Romantic era: opera (Saint-Saëns, Halévy, Godard, Février), opéra-comique (David), oratorio (Franck, Massenet) and the cantata for the Prix de Rome (Bizet, Bruneau). A nod to Wagner and his Tannhäuser - in its French translation of the 1860s - completes this programme conducted by a longstanding colleague of the soprano, one of the leading specialists in French music, Hervé Niquet.
Gramophone Award Nomination 2018 - Recital
"What they all have in common is a nobility of utterance, united here by the stunning soprano of Véronique Gens, more often heard in earlier repertoire but bringing piercing clarity to these arias." The Observer, 18th June 2017 ****
"It's provocative stuff, its emotional - at times emotive - impact immeasurably heightened by very careful programming...Gens and Niquet throw themselves into all this with an engrossing mix of abandon and restraint. Gens's trademark combination of purity of utterance and smoky tone speaks volumes." Gramophone Magazine Editor's Choice, July 2017
"Gens has a cool, clear lyric soprano that sounds barely touched by the years, and brings idiomatic diction, tonal radiance and a wide spectrum of colour ...Gens is at her peak, her singing gorgeous." Sunday Times, 9th July 2017
Tracks:
1 BRUNEAU: Geneviève : Introduction récitatif et air de Geneviève - Seigneur ! Est-ce bien moi que vous avez choisie ? 06'28
2 FRANCK: Les Béatitudes : Mater dolorosa moi du sauveur je suis la mère 03'19
3 NIEDERMEYER: Stradella : Récit et air de Léonor Ah !… Quel songe affreux ! 03'55
4 GODARD: Les Guelfes : Prélude et air de Jeanne là-bas vers le palais 08'11
5 DAVID: Lalla-Roukh : Air de Lalla-Roukh Sous le feuillage sombre 02'59
6 FÉVRIER: Gismonda : Air de Gismonda dit-elle vrai ? 04'45
7 SAINT-SAËNS: Etienne Marcel : Récit et air de Béatrix Ah ! Laissez-moi ma mère ! 05'03
8 MASSENET: La Vierge : Le dernier sommeil de la Vierge 02'54
9 MASSENET: La Vierge : Extase de la Vierge rêve infini divine extase 05'02
10 HALÉVY: La Magicienne : Récit et air de Blanche - Ce sentier nous conduit vers le couvent voisin 05'35
11 BIZET: Clovis et Clotilde : Prière de Clotilde - prière ô doux souffle de l'ange ! 02'16
12 FRANCK: Rédemption : Air de l'Archange Le flot se lève
