Douce France - Mélodies & Chansons
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BERLIOZ / CHAUSSON / DUPARC / KOSMA / TRENET / BREL
Douce France - Mélodies & Chansons
Benjamin Bernheim (tenor) Carrie-Ann Matheson (piano)
[ Deutsche Grammophon / CD ]
Release Date: Friday 30 August 2024
French star tenor Benjamin Bernheim announces his first solo song album Douce France: Mélodies & Chansons. Inspired by his long study and experience of French song, Bernheim imaginatively couples the famous 19th-century melodies of Berlioz, Chausson and Duparc with the classic 20th-century chansons by Brel, Kosma and Trenet. While some of these cycles are nowadays associated with the female voice accompanied by orchestra, the tenor was determined to return to the deep intimacy that a keyboard accompaniment can conjure. Bernheim's regular duo partner, pianist Carrie-Ann Matheson, transcribed the relevant orchestral scores into the more idiomatic versions heard on this album.
"The first is Berlioz's Les Nuits d'été, to which Bernheim brings the fine clarity of enunciation one expects from a native French singer, though his singing keeps breaking into a bigger, operatic scale...To end, he offers three popular encores. These 20th-century classics by Brel, Kosma and Trenet are always a delight and Bernheim sings them to the manner born. We could have done with more of those." Financial Times
Tracks:
Berlioz: Les nuits d'été, H. 81 (Transcr. Matheson for Tenor and Piano)
Chausson: Poème de l'amour et de la mer, Op. 19 (Transcr. Matheson for Tenor and Piano)
Duparc: L'Invitation au voyage
Duparc: Extase
Duparc: Phidylé
Duparc: La Vie antérieure
Kosma: Les feuilles mortes (Arr. Leuenberger for Tenor and Piano)
Charles Trenet, Léon Chauliac: Douce France (Arr. Leuenberger for Tenor and Piano)
Brel, J: Quand on n'a que l'amour (Arr. Leuenberger for Tenor and Piano)
