Darius MILHAUD (1892 - 1974)
Alissa, Op. 9 (1913/1931) [35.44]
L'amour chante, Op. 409 (1964) [15.43]
Poèmes juifs, Op. 34 (1916) [20.02]
Carole Farley (soprano); John Constable (piano)
rec. Concert Hall of Belgian Radio and Television, Brussels, 2-4 February 1992
NAXOS 8.572298 [71.28]
Milhaud was a remarkably prolific composer and his opus numbers run to well
over 400. On this re-release of a 1993 ASV issue, Carole Farley and John Constable
give us three song-cycles which cover virtually the entire span of Milhaud's
career.
Such was both Milhaud's musical facility and the enormous quantity of music
that he composed, that you wonder whether all of it is of the same standard;
whether the better known pieces are such because they actually do stand out
from the general run of Milhaud's output. I would like to think that hidden
in the enormous quantity of lesser-known works, there would be some gems. But
I am afraid that this issue does not quite persuade me of that.
Farley and Constable start with a song cycle called Alissa dating from
1913. It is based on Gide's short story, La porte etroite. Milhaud has
taken large chunks of the book and turned it into a dramatic cantata. Unfortunately,
it is profoundly undramatic. Luckily Milhaud revised the piece in 1931, making
it shorter - it originally lasted an hour - and more melodic. The text concerns
two lovers, Jérome and Alissa, and the progress (or lack of it) of their
affair. There are sections in Jérome's voice and sections in Alissa's,
plus piano interludes. Milhaud does not seem to differentiate between Jérome
and Alissa, making the piece seem flat and undifferentiated. There were moments
when Farley and Constable seemed to be simply doggedly pursuing Milhaud's meandering
musical thoughts. In his notes Matthew-Walker describes Alissa as Milhaud's
'masterpiece in the genre', but Farley and Constable fail to persuade me.
The second song-cycle, L'Amour Chante, is something of an improvement.
Despite the huge gap between the works - L'Amour Chante was written
in 1964 - the musical intelligence behind the pieces is recognisably the same. L'Amour
Chante sets nine poems by various poets, all blessedly short. So that to Alissa's
mixture is added the brevity lacking in the first work. There are moments when
Milhaud recalls the rather acidulated perkiness of some of Poulenc's lyrics,
but he never reaches either Poulenc's wit or his perfection.
The best of the three song-cycles is Poemes juifs. Written in 1916,
Milhaud set a group of poems, by anonymous Jewish writers, which he found in
a magazine. I have no idea what the songs are about, as the texts are omitted
for copyright reasons and Robert Matthew-Walker's review concentrates on the
background to the songs. But the Jewish texts seem to have brought out a different
vein in Milhaud - who was Jewish himself. Here he is more melodic and more
memorable. Though he does use polytonality, the songs' principal characteristic
is their charming melody.
But there is another factor to be considered when thinking about the works
on this disc, and that is the performance. Carole Farley's French is adequate
but far from perfectly idiomatic. Also, she sings rather more on the voice
that you would image someone like Denise Duvall would have done in the same
piece. Farley produces an attractive, wide-open sound which happens to have
French vowels attached, whereas French-trained singers of Milhaud's period
would have sung with a far narrower focus, and given more weight to the words.
Perhaps this would let the songs make a better effect. As it is we must be
grateful to Farley and Constable for making these pieces available to us.
The CD booklet contains an informative note by Robert Matthew-Walker - taken,
I think, from the original ASV issue. Also included are the texts and translations
of the first two song-cycles but, as I have said, the texts of the Poèmes
Juifs are omitted for copyright reasons.
At Naxos's super-budget price, I can safely say that this disc is worth a try.
If you have any interest in Milhaud's music, then these performances will give
you some sort of introduction to Milhaud's songs. But once you've heard them,
you may long for a different type of performance.
Robert Hugill