Formidable! - French Chansons
Thomas Oliemans (baritone, piano)
Amsterdam Sinfonietta/Candida Thompson (violin)
Rec. July 2021, Muziekgebouw, Amsterdam
CHANNEL CLASSICS CCS43321 [68:30]
Thomas Oliemans is a popular Dutch baritone and pianist, and widely-known for his work on opera stages and concert halls around the world. He is joined on this disc by Amsterdam Sinfonietta, a 22-piece orchestra led by violinist Candida Thompson, in a diverse collection of chansons and short orchestral numbers. Oliemans has a strong voice and bold singing style with plenty of vibrato, which gives the singing of French chansons a different twist.
Michel Legrande (1932-2019) was a prolific French composer who was best-known for his work for films and television. Both of his compositions on this disc are modern-day classics. He wrote Les Parapluies de Cherbourg, also known as I Will Wait For You, for the 1964 French musical film “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg”. The arrangement features vocal verses sandwiched between long piano and orchestral passages, all in three key changes. Michel also wrote the incredible Les Moulins de mon couer, also known as Windmills of your Mind, for the 1968 film drama “The Thomas Crown Affair”. Thomas is accompanied by the strings and sings the circular verses in dramatic fashion, varying his volume between whispering and booming.
Gilbert Becaud (1927-2001) was a French singer and composer who wrote the classic chanson Et Maintenant in 1961. Also known by its English title What Now My Love, the song sets the stage with a dramatic drum solo by Jens Meijer introducing the theme from Ravel’s Bolero, and highlighted by a relaxed piano-jazz accompaniment by Bert van den Brink, contrasting with a soaring flugelhorn solo by Ruben Drenth.
Charles Trenet (1913-2001) was a popular French singer and songwriter who composed over 1000 songs, and two of his best are here. He wrote Boum! in 1938 which won the Grand Prix du Disque. Sung in French, the tune is fun, light and irreverent. Charles also wrote the famous La Mer, first recorded in 1945, which has since become a chanson classic and jazz standard. Thomas’s powerful baritone tends to overpower the piano and strings accompaniment on some of these selections, a recording imbalance that distracts from the performance. Formidable! is an interesting two-song medley sung in French and English. It leads off with the tune For Me Formidable, composed by Charles Aznavour in 1963, and ends with Formidable, a totally different tune written by Belgian musician and songwriter Stromae and released in 2013. The two songs are similar in name only, differing in style, rhythm and tone, and a different arrangement may have smoothed the overall presentation.
Three orchestral pieces are included on this disc. Claude Debussy composed his G minor String Quartet in 1893, and it is often described as one of the works that heralded the dawn of Impressionism. The third movement Andantino gracefully mixes musical colors and rhythms with a sensitive and well-balanced performance. Variations Symphoniques was written by Cesar Franck in 1885 and shows both drama and poetry, featuring a beautiful piano melody expanding into a series of string variations. Gabriel Faure was one of the greatest French composers and one of his best-known works is the calm and serene Prelude from Suite Pelleas et Melisande, composed in 1898, and gently performed by piano and orchestra with soft and floating dynamics.
A 28-page booklet is included, with comments in English, Dutch, German and French.
Bruce McCollum
Contents
Variations symphoniques Cesar Franck [1:44]
Sous le ciel de Paris Hubert Giraud [3:23]
Boum! Charles Trenet [2:09]
La mer Charles Trenet [3:48]
Formidable! Charles Aznavour/Stromae [5:14]
Andantino from String Quartet opus 10 Claude Debussy [7:22]
Les Parapluies de Cherbourg Michel Legrand [5:22]
(Je ne pourrai jamais vivre sans toi)
Les moulins de mon coeur Michel Legrand [4:12]
L’ile aux mimosas Barbara [4:23]
Dis, quand reviendras-tu? Barbara [4:06]
Et maintenant Gilbert Becaud [5:05]
Mathilde Jacques Brel [2:33]
Mon enfance Jacques Brel [5:15]
Prelude from Suite ‘Pelleas et Melisande’ Gabriel Faure [5:01]
Les prenoms de Paris Jacques Brel [3:22]
Les feuilles mortes Joseph Kosma [5:21]
Other performers
Bert van den Brink, piano and accordion
Ruben Drenth, trumpet and flugelhorn
Jens Meijer, drums
