Customer Reviews

Berlioz - Nuits d'été · Herminie / Balleys · Delunsch · Herreweghe

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To paraphrase the reviewer below I could say "I never listen to anything but classics", but the rest of his short text would essentially remain the same. With one correction - it is not Mireille Delunsch who sings "Les Nuits d'Ete" on this CD, but a Swiss mezzo Brigitte Balleys. Delunsch performs here Berlioz's early cantata "Herminie" and this 20-something minutes long work may be for some listeners of even more importance than "just" another interpretation of "Nuits ...". Well, it is NOT "just another" interpretation of this marvellous song cycle and the CD is worth having only for these 30 minutes with Brigitte Balleys, but happily it offers something more - a rarely performed cantata brilliantly sung by Delunsch. I never thought of Herreweghe as a Berlioz conductor (he was my Bach conductor of choice) and I wouldn't probably buy this CD if not an encouragment from the "Gramophone" magazine where Balley's interpretation of "Nuit's d'ete" was voted the best in a survey of all existing recordings of this cycle, leaving behind my favorite recording by Anne Sofie von Otter. Of course, this kind of survey is always very personal, but since I agreed with most comments made in the article ("Gramophone" May 1998, pp. 24-28), it was obvious that I should give the winner a try. And it is really a revelatory recording! Balleys sings these songs like nobody I heard so far - it is a mixture of operatic and almost "cabaret" singing (take "Le spectre de la rose"), the first quality achieved through her flexible, pure voice, the other by clear diction and very natural flow of words and music. Balleys seems to produce this wonderful singing with no effort - that's how, I believe - she achieves this "narrating" effect, with all words perfectly pronounced and tinted with meaning. Herreweghe's support is marvellous and made me easily forget about my earlier preconception, what more, inspired me to buy his "L'enfance du Christ". Well, as I said, some readers may be intrigued not so much by "Nuits d'ete", but by "Herminie", a "scene lyrique", as Berlioz called it, full of familiar quotations from his "Symphonie fantastique". There is another recording of this cantata, also on Harmonia Mundi, with otherwise unknown to me Michele Lagrange (conducted by Jean-Claude Casadesus) and if you care for Berlioz's early vocal works, this is a wonderful display of his creative powers when he was in his 20-ties. But if you only want "Herminie", you can easily skip the Casadesus disc - Mireille Delunsch delivers the cantata with such an usurpassed vocal beauty and finesse that you regret the work (or the CD) isn't longer. Well, when I bought this CD few years ago, Delunsch wasn't a particularly often recorded young singer, but recently Gluck's "Armide" with Marc Minkowski made her a real star what, let's hope, means new recordings. A fascinating disc and no Berlioz fan should be without it!

Now thats the way to do it: thoughtful, musical, flowing. Brigitte Ballyes scores (along with my other 2 favourites in this, von Otter and Crespin, still classic) in having not-such-a-great voice, but keen diction, a sense of the text and emotional resources (I nearly cried hearing Sur les Lagunes). Herreweghe is most sympathetic and attentive. The orchestral sonorities are ear-pricking. The Herminie is a real bonus. I totally agree with the other reviewers here in finding a complete adn pleasant surprise in Mireille Delunsch - she is a real Falcon. She has the voice, the manners, the instinct of the true artist - she certainly makes the music her own. I was angered and dissappointed that Hamonia Mundi did not seem fit to record La Mort de Cleopatre as well, with her... I just heard a radio transmission of her doing Iphigenie en Tauride with Minkowski - and needless to say, she is the best, terrfically conducted btw. I daresay she sould prove a fantastic Octavian as well...

I have several versions of Berlioz's Nuits d'été - Jessay Norman, Véronique Gens, and the one by Von Otter (my favourite mezzo). Whilst all these renditions are also of a very high standard, the one by Herreweghe and Balleys is in a different dimension. It is the only version that can literary move me to tears. Listen to Le spectre de la rose and Sure les Lagunes and you'll understand. The angelic purity of Balley's voice with her very subtle use of vibrato simply flows together with the brilliant orchestral support of Herreweghe to create a spiritual experience that touches you soul. It simply surpasses all other renditions I've heard. If you buy only one version of Nuits d'été, make sure it's this one, or you may never truly discover the emotional power of this music.

Brigitte Balleys must be the most underrated and under-recorded artist of this caliber and I fail to understand why.

There are many wonderful recordings of the Nuits d'été - I own most of them. But this CD is something special. The Nuits d'été have never before been given such an intimate and superbly realised performance as that delivered by Brigitte Balleys, a mezzo-soprano of a pure and light voice that negotiates the notes with ease - moreover, she infuses her singing with so much meaning that I was staggered the first time I heard this recording.

As if that were not enough, the superb soprano Mireille Delunsch sings a powerhouse performance of the cantata "Herminie" on the CD. It's incredibly focused, lyrical, dramatic in the best sense of the word... this work is unquestionably an ideal vehicle for this extremely fine voice.

I recently saw Delunsch in the DVD of Monteverdi's "L'incoronazione di Poppea", where her lovely voice once again enchanted the audience. It's a magnificently controlled instrument, too - I look forward to many more recordings and DVDs of her performances.

The listener of this CD cannot fail to be enthralled by the singing and perfectly realised interpretation of both the cycle and the cantata on this recording.

I almost never listen to "classics" but the first time i listen to Mireille Delunsch (Berlioz nuits d'ete) i couldn't believe somebody could sing with zo much beauty it was a fantastic experience This woman is more than a voice...

The performances here are sublime. And the orchestral sounds are addictively gorgeous - those clarinets!!!