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Romances Sergei RACHMANINOV (1873–1943) U mojevo okna (At my window), Op. 26, No. 10
[2:14]
Davno-l’, moj drug (It was not so long ago) Op.
4 No 6 [2:19] Dissonance (Discord)Op. 34 No 13 [6:18] Le rêve (Dream)Op. 38 No 5 [3:37] Le joueur de chalumeau (The Pied Piper) Op. 38
No 4 [2:31] Vesennije vody (Spring torrents) Op. 14 No 11
[2:14] Zdes’ khorosho (How peaceful)Op. 21 No
7 [2:12] Lilas (Lilacs) Op. 21 No 5 [2:12] Jan e prorok (I am not a prophet) Op. 21 No 11
[1:41] Margaritki (Daisies) Op. 38 No 3 [2:42] Ne poj, krasavica (Sing not, o lovely one, in
my presence) Op. 14 No 4 [4:40] Muza (The Muse) Op. 34 No 1 [4:28] Ostrovok (Small island) Op. 14 No 2 [2:22] Ja zhdu tebya (I await you) Op. 14 No 1 [1:53] Franz LISZT (1811–1886) Bist du (Is it you) [4:44] Es muss ein Wunderbares sein (Who can feel the
bliss) [2:06] S'il est un charmant gazon (It there’s a lovely
grassy plot) [2:14] Comment, disaient-ils (How then, asked he) [1:42] Enfant, si j'étais roi (Child, if I were King)
[3:09] Oh! quand je dors (Oh, when I sleep) [5:17]
Chantal Dionne
(soprano)
Louise-Andrée Baril (piano)
rec. Église de la Visitation, Oka, 5-8 September 2006, 11
January 2007. DDD
texts and translations included ANALEKTA
AN29923 [61:27]
Canadian soprano
Chantal Dionne has had a quick rise to stardom, triggered
no doubt by being Award-winner at the Montreal International
Musical Competition in 2005. She already has a busy international
operatic career in lyric roles: Micaëla, Marguerite, Pamina,
Zerlina, Susanna but also the heavier role of Donna Anna.
A quick vibrato – some would even call it a flutter – and
rather edgy tone characterizes her voice. In certain respects
her timbre is not unlike Elisabeth Söderström’s – an apt
comparison, since Ms Söderström, with Russian ancestry, is
one of the foremost interpreters of Rachmaninov’s songs on
record - her Decca series with Ashkenazy still lays claim
to being the benchmark version. She recorded these songs
fairly late and some of the youthful freshness was inevitably
gone by then but her insight and expressiveness and her ability
to colour the tone were still features that marked out her
readings. I am afraid that Ms Dionne at this early stage,
not surprisingly, hasn’t got quite that far.
She does however
have several other features by way of compensation. Hers
is a young voice and her breath-control allows her to sings
long, unbroken phrases. She can produce lovely pianissimos
and she can gather considerable intensity in the more dramatic
songs. It could also be argued that the gritty tone lends
her singing an authentic Slavonic tinge. At the same time
this is her main drawback, since after hearing too many songs
in a row the voice quality starts to grate on the ear and
creates a monotony that is completely absent from Söderström’s
reading, where she creates something individual of each song.
And, talking of authentic timbre: the famous Russian soprano
Antonia Nezhdanova, for whom Rachmaninov composed several
of his songs, possessed one of the purest and smoothest voices
in recorded history, so generally speaking authenticity has
nothing to do with voice type. Let me hasten to add, which
I hope I have already made clear, that Ms Dionne has none
of the Slavonic wobble that has more or less disappeared
today but was part and parcel of many East-European voices
not so many decades ago. What I hope is that Chantal Dionne
can hone her vocal cords further and find a softer core that
would for example make her Zerlina more ingratiating. On
the other hand I suspect that she is already a good Marguerite,
from whom one expects the kind of vulnerability that her ‘flutter’ produces.
In the main it is the lyrical singing that impresses most
and a majority of the songs are also restrained in feeling
and utterance.
It was a brilliant
idea to juxtapose songs by two of the greatest pianist-composers
in musical history, two legendary virtuosos who no doubt
will for ever be remembered more for their instrumental music
than for their songs. This is a pity, since both wrote songs, romances,
of utmost beauty with great understanding of the human voice.
Moreover the songs should be of interest also to piano freaks,
as neither of them lowered their standards of technical prowess
just because they wrote songs. I remember almost twenty years
ago when I was involved in a charity gala with guest artists:
one soprano sent the piano part for Rachmaninov’s Spring
torrents (tr. 6 on this disc) to a local pianist who
could play practically anything at sight; this time he complained
loudly: This was the most difficult thing I have ever played.
Of course he played it to perfection, but it still shows
the technical level and Ms Dionne’s Canadian accompanist
Louise-Andrée Baril no doubt had some sweaty hours during
the recording sessions. The outcome is excellent, however,
and besides the jubilant gusts of wind in Spring torrents she
shows her mettle in the tense Dissonance).
In the Liszt section she also impresses in Enfant, si
j’étais roi.
Spring torrents also brings out the best of
Chantal Dionne with incisive tone and intensity, but as I
said, it is mainly
the more inward, lyrical songs that are the most appealing: Zdes’ khorosho,
the beautiful Siren and Muza to mention
the cream. Among the Liszt songs Bist du is
sung with exquisite phrasing, Es muss ein Wunderbaren
sein, one of the best known songs here, is lovely. The
lively Comment, disaient-ils is done with great charm.
It seems that she is most at ease in the French songs, which
is also profitable for the masterpiece among Liszt’s songs, Oh!
Quand je dors, where she darkens the tone. Similarly
impressive is Et soudain mon rêve rayonnera! where
the tension and intensity is well judged.
As for comparisons
it is a bit unfair to choose Söderström and – in the case
of Liszt – Brigitte Fassbaender on a DG recording from the
1980s, and set them against a relative newcomer. That said,
anyone who exposes herself in a field like this has to face
competition. At a second listening I was admittedly more
indulgent about the hardness of tone and there is indeed
a lot to admire. In due time she will surely deepen her interpretative
insights further and being second best in comparison with
Elisabeth Söderström and Brigitte Fassbaender isn’t so bad
after all.
The booklet has
biographies of the artists and an interesting essay on the
songs by Lucie Renaud in both French and English. The layout
of the sung texts is a bit strange. When songs are sung in
Russian (Rachmaninov) or German (Liszt) the original texts
are printed at the bottom of the page with the French and
English translations at the top in line-by-line mode, though
the contents of the adjacent lines does not always correspond
properly. Le joueur de chalumeau (The Pied Piper),
sung in French, has all the French text, in two columns on
one page and to follow the English translation, also in two
columns, one has to turn the page. Quite impractical. One
shouldn’t be too finicky, though – today one can’t always
take it for granted that texts are provided at all. The recorded
sound is well balanced and on the whole I derived a great
deal of pleasure from this disc – with the qualifications
I have accounted for above. I look forward to hearing more
of Chantal Dionne.
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