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Was It A Dream?
Jean SIBELIUS (1865-1957)

Säf, säf, susa
Schwarze Rosen
Mädchen kam vom Stelldichein
Ai-je rêvé?
Der Diamant auf dem Märzschnee
Jules MASSENET (1842-1912)

Oh! Si les fleurs avaient des yeux...
Ouvre tes yeux bleues
Heure vécue?
Plus vite
Voix Suprême
Henri DUPARC (1848-1933)

Au pays où se fait la guerre
Romance de Mignon
Chanson triste
Gabriel FAURÉ (1845-1924)

Au bord de l'eau
Pablo LUNA (1879-1942)

De Espana vengo
Pablo SOROZÁBAL (1897-1988)

Noche hermosa
Sebastián de YRADIER

La Paloma
Léo DELIBES (1836-1891)

Avril
Pyotr Il'ich TCHAIKOVSKY (1840-1893)

Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt
Inmitten des balles
Marguarite MONNOT

Hymme a l'amour
Dino OLIVIERI

J'attendrai
Louis GUGLIELMI

La vie en rose
Annette Celine (soprano)
Christopher Gould (piano)
Recorded at St Paul’s School, London, August 2003
BRANA RECORDS BR0011 [68.55]

AVAILABILITY

http://www.branarecords.com/

Annette Celine (soprano)
Cantigas

Waldemar HENRIQUE (1905-1995)

Uirapurú
Manha - Nungára
Tamba Tajá
Rolinha
Cobra Grande
Entrentanto. Eu Canto
Morena
Hei de Morrer
Cóco Penerué
Trem do Alagôas
Maracatú
Cançâo Nômade
Abaluaié
Heitor VILLA-LOBOS (1887-1959)

Cançâo Do Poeta Século XVIII
Nesta Rua
Vióla Quebrada
Jaime OVALE (1894-1955)

Azulão
Lorenzo FERNÂNDEZ (1897-1948)

Dentro da Noite
Alberto NEPOMUCENO (1864-1920)

Cantigas
Xavier MONTSALVATGE (b.1912)

Cradle Song
Consuelo VELAZQUEZ (b. 1924)

Besame Mucho
Annette Celine (soprano)
Christopher Gould (piano)
Recorded [2002?]
BRANA RECORDS BR0003 [55.38]


Songs With And Without Words

Felix MENDELSSOHN (1809-1847)

Allnächtlich in Traume seh’ich dich

Der Mond
Song Without Words Op.19b (piano solo)
Guiseppe VERDI (1813-1901)
Stornello
César CUI (1835-1918)
Tsarskoye Selo

Anton RUBINSTEIN (1829-1894)

Night
Johannes BRAHMS (1833-1897)
Wiegenlied

Wiegenlied (arr. Grainger)
Edvard GRIEG (1843-1907)
Ich liebe dich
Mit einer Primula veris
Mit einer Wasserlilie
Gruss
Ein Traum
Ich Liebe Dich (solo piano)
Gabriel FAURÉ (1845-1924)
Après un rêve (piano solo) (arr. Grainger)
Après un rêve
Tristesse
Maude Valérie WHITE (1855-1937)
Chantez, Chantez Jeune Inspirée
Cécile CHAMINADE (1857-1944)
L'Amour Captif
L'anneau d'Argent
Claude DEBUSSY (1862-1918)

Beau Soir
Henri DUPARC (1848-1933)
L'Invitation au Voyage
Enrique GRANADOS (1867-1916)
La Maja Dolorosa No.1

La Maja Dolorosa No.2
La Maja Dolorosa No.3
Sergei RACHMANINOV (1873-1943)
Lilacs
Reynaldo HAHN (1875-1947)
Le Rossignol des Lilas

Rêverie
Si mes Vers avaient des Ailes
Fernando OBRADORS (1897-1945)
Del cabello más sutil
Igor STRAVINSKY (1882-1971)
Tilim Bom

Annette Celine (soprano)
Christopher Gould (piano)
Recorded [2003?]
BRANA RECORDS BR0006 [73.17]


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I’ve grouped together this trio of new releases because they all derive from sessions recorded by soprano Annette Celine and pianist Christopher Gould. Celine, a distinguished singer, was born in Brazil and studied in Milan and is the daughter of Felicja Blumental. Her most prestigious moment on disc came in the Maag-Domingo-Caballé Luis Miller for Decca, which will be remembered by many, but she’s clearly been a busy and popular recitalist.

Clearly she has a number of strong musical affinities as these three disparate collections illustrate. She ranges across genres and languages at will. No sooner has one supposed her to be a Franco-Spanish maven than she confounds expectations by unravelling her Sibelius or her Slavic repertoire. But though we have a smattering of Central European songs – some Mendelssohn, a hint of her Brahms – in the main we do find that her greatest strengths are in the French and Latin American muses.

It is indeed Cantigas that proves the most rewarding of this trio of well-filled discs. It’s especially valuable because of her affiliations and associations with Villa-Lobos and other leading Latin American composers (the booklet reproduces a delightful photograph of Celine and her mother with Villa Lobos and his wife). So we turn to her for the tristesse of Henrique’s Morena (and its curiously Brahmsian moments) as much as the tongue twisting Trem do Alagôas. No less do we admire her Villa Lobos – and especially Cançâo Do Poeta Século XVIII and her way with the gentle populism of Ovale’s Azulão.

I have to report however that much in her singing has to be taken on trust. Her vibrato has widened alarmingly and the technique comes under too much pressure too often. It renders much in the other volumes (and in truth much in Cantigas) rather uncomfortable listening. The problem extends to intonation, pronunciation, an unsupported lower half of the voice, limitations at the top and so on. These seem to be the product, ungallant though it is to note, of age. Christopher Gould proves a sensitive accompanist and has a few solo moments and the recording balance is well judged.

Jonathan Woolf


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