Véronique Gens - Nuit d'étoiles (Mélodies française)

Gabriel Faure (Composer), Claude Debussy (Composer), Francis Poulenc (Composer), Veronique Gens (Performer), Roger Vignoles (Performer)

Product Details

• Performer: Veronique Gens, Roger Vignoles
• Composer: Gabriel Faure, Claude Debussy, Francis Poulenc
• Audio CD (April 11, 2000)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Virgin Classics
• ASIN: B00003ZKR9
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #22,561 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enchanting recital of French Melodies, July 6, 2000

By	Vincent Lau (Hong Kong) - See all my reviews

This is a most enjoyable release, all the more so because Veronique Gens, who is generally considered a baroque specialist on the lyric stage, may well be a torch-bearer of the elusive art of the French song in the coming decades. The voice of Gens, which is solid and well-integrated with an alluring dash of vibrancy embedded therein, is eminently suited to the repertoire represented in this new Virgin Classics release. Her secure technique (just a hint of strain in one or two high notes) also renders it possible for her to fine down her voice in the ending of phrases to a charming effect. Being a native French speaker certainly helps, too. Although hers is perhaps not the most strongly-etched of readings, she is able to inflect the text intelligently, and her subtle but heart-felt stresses on particular words not only serve to illuminate the poetic prose, but also meld beautifully with the notes that she sing.

The CD opens with songs by Faure, and while Gens may not possess the charm and naturalness of utterance of Maggie Teyte, whose recordings of Faure's songs are, in the opinion of this reviewer, unsurpassable, she can conjure up the right kind of feeling for every song as no one can. Her tempo for the popular "Apres un reve" is a trifle too laid back. Yet, she conveys to perfection the dream-like quality of the song, as well as the sense of confusion and regret at awakening. Her singing of "Le papillon et la fleur" is delightfully vivid, and her evocation of the feeling of sadness being kept in restraint in "Les berceaux" makes the performance both intimate and touching.

The Debussy group is no less impressive. Despite the innovative idiom in which most of these songs are composed, Gens is able bring them off effortlessly and stylishly. She is in total command whether in the serenity of "Beau soir", the romanticism of "Nuit d'etoiles", the rustic charm of "Fleur des bles", or the harrowing grimness of "Noel des enfants qui n'ont plus de maison", the last one composed when Debussy was being haunted by the atrocities of the Great War. In "Fetes galantes I", although the vocal and piano parts are often independent of each other, Gens's remarkable interpretation succeeds in unifying the two strands into a picturesque and colourful whole. The "3 Chansons de Bilitis", which are composed very much in the style of PELLEAS ET MELISANDE, also find an ideal interpreter in Gens where, blessed with a keen sense of rhythm, she succeeds in propelling the texts forward with musical grace and dramatic import. She would surely make a wonderful Melisande.

The Poulenc is equally fine. The young soprano is able to do full justice to the diverse moods in "Banalites", which, according to Olivier Opdebeeck, who penned the CD notes, is composed in a "part-melancholy, part-joyful tone with a barb of irony which the composer identified in the poet". The "2 Melodies de Guillaume Apollinaire" are sharply contrasted, one (Montparnasse) languid and brooding and the other (Hyde Park) gusty and piquant. Gens's singing of "Les chemins de l'amour", a cross between a Viennese waltz and a cabaret song, is loveliness itself and provides a delicious end to an enchanting recital.

The major reservation that this reviewer has involves the accompaniment of Roger Vignoles. While he is able to provide secure support for the singer, his playing is uncharacterful and even bland. Besides, the piano tone seems to be rather thin at times. Nonetheless, this should not detract one from the sensuous beauty of Gens's performance. This reviewer hopes that Virgin Classics would be encouraged by the success of this release so that they can present this most promising singer in further volumes of French songs by, say, Chausson, Ravel and Duparc.

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An unexpected glimpse of happiness., July 20, 2001

By	Maxim "Lucky Suerte" (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews

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Stendhal wrote that "the sight of anything extremely beautiful, in nature or in art, brings back the memory of what one loves, with the speed of lightning. That is, ... all that is beautiful and sublime in the world takes part in the beauty of what one loves, and this unexpected glimpse of happiness immediately fills the eyes with tears. This is how love of the beautiful and love give each other life." This is what Ms. Gens will do to you when you listen to this CD.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Words as lovely as the music in which they are set, April 15, 2000

By	F. Behrens "Frank Behrens" (Keene, NH USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Not quite Lieder, not quite the American "Art Song," the French "melodie" is a unique marriage of expressionist poetry and piano music with accents that might or might not follow the flow of the French language. I cannot recommend too highly a Virgin Classics release of <Nuits d'etoiles: melodies francaises> (7423 5 45360-2) with soprano Veronique Gens and pianist Roger Vignoles.

I recall one or two of the poems from my undergraduate French classes, but I must confess that almost all of this program was new to me and I loved it. Except for the last song, a sort of cabaret waltz, very few of these songs simply repeat the same melodic line from stanza to stanza as in operettas or are glued to the AABA Tin Pan Alley requirement,in which a verse of so many bars must precede a refrain of another given number of bars, or even in the operetta "couplet" format. Here the music follows the thought--or the impression, I should say, since many of these poems set a mood. Even the one about Sleeping Beauty is enigmatically told, and the piece about Hyde Park is comparable to one or two non-vocal movements of "Pictures at an Exhibition."

This disc also gives us a chance not only to compare the "melodies" of Faure, Debussy and Poulenc, but also to compare the settings of the same text, "Claire de lune," by the first two composers. It is essential that you follow the texts carefully on first and second hearings; for without them this is merely a beautiful musical treat but lacking half of what is essential to your full enjoyment. And what more delightful way to brush up on the "modern" French poetry of Bussine, de Choudens, Prudhomme, Verlaine, Appolinaire, and the others?

Gens is a marvel. I can say no more.