French Songs
André CAPLET (1878-1925)
Nuit d’Automne [3:49]
“Quand reverrai-je, hélas!...” [1:08]
Le croix Douloureuse [5:00]
Trois Fables de Jean de la Fontaine [11:29]
Arthur HONEGGER (1892-1955)
Six Poèmes de Guillaume Apollinaire [8:51]
Trois Poèmes de Paul Fort [6:19]
Darius MILHAUD (1892-1974)
Les Soirées de Pétrograde [10:22]
Maurice RAVEL (1875-1937)
Chansons madécasses [13:07]
Simon Wallfisch (baritone); Edward Rushton (piano); Efrain Oscher (flute); Raphael Wallfisch (cello)
rec. Nimbus Records, Wyastone Leys, Monmouth, UK, January and April 2015
NIMBUS NI5938 [61:07]
This is an enterprising and well planned disc of some of
the more unusual French Mélodies. Songs from the older generation as represented
by Caplet and Ravel bookend those of the younger as represented by Honegger
and Milhaud.
The disc opens with six songs by André Caplet, who despite being a well respected
opera director, he was at Boston Opera from 1910 to 1914, never composed an
opera of his own. His mature years were devoted to the composition of songs,
choral music and chamber pieces. Perhaps if he had not died so young he might
have accomplished some major stage works. He certainly seems to have an affinity
for writing for the voice. The first two songs on this disc, Nuit d’Automne
and “Quand reverrai-je, hélas!... were composed in the twelve
months or so after his return from America. They are both fine examples of
French song and were also the only two songs on this disc which were new to
me. These are followed by Le croix douloureuse from 1918 which is
rightly one of Caplet’s most famous songs. The main emphasis here is
on the Trois Fables de Jean de la Fontaine of 1919. These three pieces
are a cycle of genuinely humorous songs. The piano writing in this cycle is
as important as the vocal line. This has led Guy
Sacré, in his notes for the Timpani disc of Caplet songs (1C1058),
to write that the “... piano part has a formidable efficacy of a silent
film accompaniment, or of those that even today punctuate the events in a
cartoon film.” I must admit that whilst Simon Wallfisch gives a good
interpretation, in the final of the three Fables, Lionel Peintre’s differentiation
between the wolf and the lamb is more vivid.
The second composer to feature on this disc of French songs might seem strange
in that Arthur Honegger was Swiss. Yes he was born in Le Havre, but in the
Swiss enclave and when he arrived in Paris to study he spoke Zürideutsch and
could barely order something to eat in French. However he is forever associated
with French music through his involvement with the group known as ‘Les
Six’. Here Honegger is represented by two cycles of songs, the Six
poèmes d'Apollinaire (1915-17) and the Trois poèmes de Paul
Fort (1916), both cycles appearing on the Timpani disc of Honegger’s
Mélodies (1C1015). On the Timpani disc they are given to the mezzo Brigitte
Balleys to sing, and whilst she sings them with distinction, they also suit
Wallfisch’s baritone really well. Harry Halbreich, in his excellent
book on Honegger (review
~ review)
describes the Apollinaire songs as “a veritable masterpiece”
(p.286), whilst he sees the Paul Fort songs as examples of Honegger’s
“much simpler, more straightforward music”. These are not the
easiest of songs to come to terms with, but with the Apollinaire
set come some of the greatest musical rewards.
Darius Milhaud was something of a maverick when it came to song settings.
He even set a seed catalogue and a catalogue of agricultural machinery. However,
his songs from the turn of the late 1910s and early 1920s were influenced
by the aesthetic of those by his new ‘Les Six’ colleagues. The
cycle Les soirées de Pétrograde (1919) comprises a series of twelve
miniature picture postcard poems by René Chalupt. These depict life in Russia
both in pre-revolutionary St. Petersburg and post-revolutionary Petrograd.
Wallfisch sings these well, although listening to Jean-François Gardeil on
Maguelone (MAG 111.116) makes you appreciate the French, almost nasal, baritone.
The most well known songs here are the three that make up Ravel’s Chansons
madécasses (1925-26) with their additional accompaniment of cello and
flute. Here Simon Wallfisch gives his strongest interpretation, one which
stands up well to Didier Henry on Maguelone (MAG 111.102). These three songs
are described by Graham Johnson in his A French Song Companion (p.
408) as an “unequivocal masterpiece”. They were devised by Ravel
as a kind of quartet with the voice as the main instrument. This choice of
instrumentation was at the request of Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, to whom
the songs were dedicated.
The singing of Simon Wallfisch is good throughout. Yes, there are times when
I wished for a little less vibrato, but it is not too intrusive. The piano
playing of Edward Rushton, especially in the Caplet, when he is called on
to be more than a mere accompanist, is excellent. The recorded sound is a
little big at times but not too reverberant with the piano and voice being
well balanced. The booklet notes by Roger Nichols are informative and add
to the enjoyment of the music. Full texts are given. It is a pity however
that only a link to ‘many’ of the song translations is given rather
than being presented as part oft he disc booklet.
Stuart Sillitoe
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