Part 1
Interview with Felicity Lott and Graham
Johnson
Graham PEEL
(1877 -1937) The early morning
Maurice RAVEL
(1875 -1937) Le réveil de
la mariée
Gustav MAHLER
(1860-1911) Frühlingsmorgen
Georges BIZET
(1838-1875) Chanson d'avril
Edmund NICK
(1891 - 1974) Die Spröde
Hector BERLIOZ
(1803-1869) Villanelle
Claude DEBUSSY
(1862 -1918) L'ombre des arbres
Ralph VAUGHAN
WILLIAMS (1872 -1958) Silent
noon
Richard STRAUSS
(1864 -1949) In goldner Fülle
John IRELAND
(1879-1962) The Trellis
Frank BRIDGE
(1879 -1941) Go not, happy day
Oscar STRAUSS
(1870-1954) Warum soll eine Frau
kein Verhältnis haben?
Part 2
Reynaldo HAHN
(1874 -1947) L'heure exquise
Roger QUILTER
(1877 -1953) Now sleeps the crimson
petal
Robert SCHUMANN
(1810-1856) Schone Fremde
Johannes BRAHMS
(1833 -1897) Der Gang zum Liebchen
Erik SATIE
(1866-1925) La diva de 1'Empire
Samuel BARBER
(1910-1981) Sure on this shining
night
Gabriel FAURE
(1845 -1924) Soir
Albert ROUSSEL
(1869 -1937) Le bachelier de Salamanque
Maurice YVAIN
(1891-1965) Je chante la nuit
Camille SAINT-SAËNS
(1835 -1921) Danse macabre
Hugo WOLF
(1860-1903) Heut' Nacht erhob' ich
mich
Cole PORTER
(1891 -1964) Night and day
GILBERT &
SULLIVAN (1836 -1911) The
sun has rays
André
MESSAGER (1853 -1929) J'ai
deux amants
This DVD opens with
views of the Théâtre Châtelet
at night. As I found out myself
a few years back it is a mighty impressive
building. The building owes its existence
to the urban regeneration of medieval
Paris initiated by Napoleon III and
carried out under the supervision of
Baron Haussmann. This replaced the network
of narrow streets with the wide boulevards
we know today. One such boulevard near
l’Opéra carries Haussmann’s name.
On it is situated one of the most popular
and plush departmental stores, Galérie
Lafayette. This store is famous for
its glass dome as well as its merchandise.
Incidentally, it also has a restaurant
that provides the best value lunch in
town!
The Théâtre
Lyrique du Châtelet for smaller
musical productions and recitals perfectly
complements Charles Garnier’s larger
house. I found the acoustic in the Châtelet
perfect for John Eliot Gardiner’s semi-staged
period instrument production of Verdi’s
Falstaff. The acoustic was warm
yet clear. It facilitated words coming
over clearly when well enunciated. This
warmth and clarity are a great advantage
in a recital such as the one found on
this disc where the singer’s diction
and enunciation are first class. Of
course on a DVD the listener can have
the words on the screen. Far better
though to be able to hear and follow
the words themselves. With the inflexions
and nuances clearly expressed here by
Lott’s voice the meaning of the words
and the song are illuminated.
In 2002 Dame Felicity
Lott was 55. It would be foolish to
suggest that there are not signs of
that age in close-ups during the recital.
However, age has also filled and matured
her voice with proliferate overtones.
The light lyric voice of yesteryear
is now capable of more colours and has
significantly more body. Most importantly
the singer has retained her steadiness
and legato as she has added greater
expression and meaning to her singing.
Add to these vocal accomplishments the
most adventurously eclectic lieder programme
I think I have ever seen, and the outcome
is a sure winner. There are no fewer
than 24 different composers represented
on the disc. Each song represents the
hours in the day. Sometimes the hour
and the song marry easily, but there
are no false attempts when they don’t.
Some of the songs are quite short and
there is narrative by Lott or her accompanist
between each. The singer relates autobiographical
details about her career and concerning
her superbly idiomatic command of French;
her German is comparable. Lott pays
tribute to the influence and accompaniments
of Graham Johnson. These are thoroughly
justified too in respect of this disc
where he supports, but never indulges,
his singer. Johnson introduces several
of the songs with illuminating comments
as to origin etc. The very informative
booklet gives more details about each
song as well as biographical details
on the participants.
Recently, Dame Felicity
refuted a report in the UK Opera Magazine
that she was shortly to retire from
the operatic stage and restrict herself
to lieder recitals such as this. Whist
that might be mouth-watering for lieder
enthusiasts opera would lose out. For
Lott’s voice and personality the two
genres are mutually supportive. There
are not many singers who have her ability
in both fields. As far as her singing
of such a varied song repertoire as
found on this disc is concerned I cannot
bring to mind another female singer
to match her. Lovers of fine singing
should not miss it.
Robert J Farr
TDK
DVVTFL[91min] 