Many - most? - song
recital recordings are one-composer offerings. That’s not necessarily
a bad thing. Many - most? - live recitals are mixed programmes,
normally building in a few larger groups of songs, either composer-related
or nationality-related with some ‘lollipops’ thrown in at the
end. This disc is of the latter kind and the programme is mouth-watering:
a handful of well-known Sibelius songs (sung in German, though,
and in one case French instead of the original Swedish); a group
of French melodies by Massenet (seldom heard but lovely music),
Duparc and Fauré; a trio of Spanish songs (Luna’s De Espana
vengo actually an aria from the zarzuela El nińo judio);
two Tchaikovsky songs most people know and finally three French
chansons, two of them from Edith Piaf’s repertoire. So – a fine
programme. Reading the track-list I looked forward to a varied
full hour of lovely songs.
Alas! The execution
of them leaves much to be desired. Honestly I derived practically
no pleasure at all from this disc. Ms Celine’s voice may once
have been a pliable and sonorous instrument – and her list of
merits endorses this supposition – but two years ago, when this
recital was recorded, it had lost most of whatever qualities
it once had. It is a thick unwieldy voice, afflicted by a heavy
vibrato that quickly becomes a wobble, not only in the upper
register and in forte. In fact she hardly sings a single note
that is not distorted. The tone in itself is also hollow
and uneven and intonation can be suspect, especially at the
end of phrases. Even though it grieves me deeply to say so,
large portions of the disc sound more like a parody than the
seriously intended recital it – hopefully – was supposed to
be, since behind the vocal deficiencies one can trace an honest
and probing Lieder artist, who has gone to considerable pains
to delve below the surface of these wonderful songs. Her phrasing
is well judged and musical, she is careful about dynamics and
it is obvious that the texts mean something to her, but – and
there is the rub – her voice doesn’t obey her any more.
I won’t go into
detailed analysis to prolong the pain but, to be honest, there
are different degrees of deficiency. Sibelius’ powerful songs
can stand a certain roughness and for instance the Finnish dramatic
soprano Kirsi Tiihonen who made a Sibelius disc for Naxos a
few years ago (possibly only released in Scandinavia) sings
these songs with all the mightiness of an Isolde or a Brünnhilde,
but she has her vocal resources under perfect control and her
vibrato, once one has got used to it, only emphasises greatness
of the songs, in fact closer related to operatic scenas than
intimate Lieder. But treating the delicate French Mélodies in
the same large-scale manner is like spreading colours on a large
canvas with a palette-knife instead of using an etching-needle.
Massenet’s songs cry out for a slimmer voice, for some elegance
and fine lines. Ouvre tes yeux bleus, such a lovely song,
is almost unrecognisable when hammered up like this. Henri Duparc’s
Au pays oů se fait la guerre initially finds her in slightly
better shape, more intimate and steadier of tone, probably recorded
on a better day. She even sings some high notes piano and
with little obtrusive vibrato, and the very last song, La
vie en rose, taken very slowly, is actually rather touchingly
done. Many other songs, however lovely per se, are unfortunately
best forgotten in these versions. More’s the pity since her
accompanist, Christopher Gould, is a brilliant pianist and on
my note-pad I jotted down, while listening, “delicate” (Ouvre
tes yeux bleus), “delicious intro” (La Paloma), “lovely
prelude” (La vie en rose), to quote just a few. He is
also recorded with exceptional clarity, while Ms Celine sounds
occluded as though she was recorded in different acoustics,
but it is most certainly the quality of the voice and not the
microphones.
The inlay has short
bios on the singer and the pianist and short, uncredited but
illuminating commentaries on the music (printed in white on
black of course – another black mark!) but no texts or translations.
Pondering a bit
on this disc I wonder why it was issued at all. Someone, at
least, during the run of this production must have been aware
that the end-result was less than flattering to all involved
and should have called the whole thing off. I have tried to
be as positive as possible, but I am afraid that the only recommendation
I can give is: Don’t buy this disc!
Göran Forsling
Annette Celine (soprano)
