Alexandre Dumas et la Musique
Karine Deshayes (mezzo-soprano); Kaëlig Boché (tenor); Marie-Laure Garnier (soprano)
Alphonse Cemin (piano); Raphaël Jouan (cello)
French text, English translation included.
rec. May 2020, Salle Colonne, Paris
ALPHA 657 [67:25]
The always enterprising team at Alpha Classics seem to be able to come up with a novel approach for a new release. Their latest nouveauté is a CD of mid-nineteenth century romances based upon the writings of Alexandre Dumas. Dumas was a writer of great prominence during that era. His mixed-race origins must have placed many barriers to his career; therefore, his successful position in the society of the day is truly astonishing. He is most remembered for writing novels such as The Count of Monte Cristo, The Three Musketeers, and The Black Tulip to name but three of them. A few of his works have served to inspire composers to produce some of their most signature compositions. Without his lighthearted revision of E.T.A. Hoffmann’s rather dark short story there would be no Nutcracker ballet for us to enjoy every holiday season. Without his play La Dame aux Camelias there would be no La Traviata; a bread and butter opera for most opera house schedules. Dumas made a few attempts at writing librettos himself for the opera stage, but they were mostly unsuccessful and he felt that his writings were not musical by nature, although he seems to have been a passionate music lover in general.
This CD brings us an assortment of works by various composers that were created from his poetry or inspired by his work in general. There is a veritable who’s who of 19th century French composers represented here. There is even one work by the celebrated French tenor Gilbert Duprez. Duprez was generally acknowledged as the first tenor to sing a high C in a full chest voice rather than resorting to falsetto. Rossini famously, if unkindly, commented on his performance in Guillaume Tell, that it was like “the squawk of a capon with its throat cut”. Despite this, his voice was of sufficient caliber for Berlioz to compose Benvenuto Cellini for his talents, and Donizetti created La Favorite, Les Martyrs and Dom Sebastien specifically with him in mind. Most of the songs on the CD were designated as romances, which according to the booklet are songs that are nostalgic in nature and pay tribute to the past or have a pastoral theme in general. The romance song eventually went out of style and was superseded by the mélodie, which is a much more emotionally direct song.
The recital begins with the one song that listeners may have encountered before, Massenet’s Elégie. Tenor Kaëlig Boché sings a very pleasing rendition which is set off by the elegant piano and cello accompaniment which adds to the poignancy of the song. The rest of the recital is of works that are mostly unfamiliar to listeners. These songs for the most part are both wistful and playful. The medieval themes of romance are delectably sung by Karine Deshayes in Berlioz’s tale of the daring Isabeau. Then there is the much wider emotional range of Lizst’s passion tale of Joan of Arc at the stake; a song that is a veritable scena dramatica as it veers from deep despair to a state of exalted visionary zeal. This song receives a very commendable performance by Marie-Laure Garnier. In addition to the romances there are a few tracks that derive from long unperformed operas which hopefully may spark some interest in concert airings. It would have been ideal if the writer of the booklet notes had included some more information about these stage works but alas not. Among the operatic delights there is a diverting trio from Monpou’s Piquillo and a berceuse of lilting sweetness from Godard’s Jocelyne which receives a simply flawless account from Ms Dehayes. Ultimately much of the musical content of these songs seem much like a whisp of air that has already passed by when you become aware of it; indeed only the two Berlioz tracks have music that sits indelibly in the mind after hearing them. With excellent performances and recording this is a very pleasant hour of basking in elegance and style if not too much in the way of substance.
Mike Parr
Contents
Jules MASSENET (1842-1912): Elégie (3:34), Soleil couchant (3:16)
Hector BERLIOZ (1803-1869): La belle Isabeau, conte pendant l'orange, (4:54), La captive (4:30)
Franz LISZT (1811-1886): Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher, (8:11)
Henri DUPARC (1848-1933): La Fuite (3:14)
Benjamin GODARD (1849-1895): Berceuse from Jocelyn (6:15), Te souviens-tu (2:03)
Joseph DOCHE (1799-1849) : L'ange (3:47)
Gilbert-Louis DUPREZ (1806-1896) : Nita la gondolier (2:14)
Hippolyte MONPOU (1804-1841): Piquillo : Trio "Ah ! Pour votre assistance, seigneur, j'ai l'espérance" (6:19)
Alphonse VARNEY (1811-1879): Le Chevalier de Maison-Rouge : Chœur des Girondins (1:25)
Andre MESSAGER (1853-1929): Ah! Ah! L'abbé, je l'ai mis en déroute (from Le Chevalier d'Harmental) (3:43)
Edmond GUION (1820-1892): Amour, printemps - Printemps, Amour ! (5:00)
Cesar FRANCK (1822-1890): Le Sylphe (4:30)
Henri REBER (1807-1880) : Le jardin (2:41)
Francis THOME (1850-1909): Le jardin (1:40)
