Berlioz: Les Nuits d'été; Cléopâtre / Barbara Hendricks, Söderblom, Pori Sinfonietta
Arte Verum
CD
$20.99Oct 20, 2023
Throughout her fifty year career Barbara Hendricks has shown herself to be one of the greatest champions of French song. This has always held a special place in her repertory and in her heart, as have German lieder, Scandinavian and Spanish songs (not to mention jazz and blues); her musical world has no limits. For this new recording made in 2016, the Swedish soprano pays homage both to her singing teacher and mentor, the great American mezzo-soprano Jennie Tourel, and to the creative genius of Hector Berlioz. If the Nuits d’été have long formed part of her repertory, the two cantatas Herminie and Cléopâtre are new.
A towering figure in French music of the later 19th century, Cesar Franck created a distinctive fusion of German Romanticism and French Classicism, enriching the symphonic, chamber, instrumental, vocal and sacred repertoires. As a teacher and mentor he gained admiration for his modesty and generosity while exercising a powerful influence on younger disciples such as Vincent d'Indy, Henri Duparc and Ernest Chausson. The Cesar Franck Edition gathers together all his masterworks - among them the Symphony in D, Violin Sonata, Prelude, Fugue et Variation and, of course, 'Panis Angelicus' - in enthralling performances by musicians of the first rank. Running to 16 CDs, the collection includes a CD of transcriptions and arrangements, proving their fascination for a still greater diversity of interpreters than Franck might have imagined. The five CDs of historical recordings - dating back as far as 1907 - testify to the continuing growth of his reputation after his death in 1890, and to the vibrant performing tradition engendered by his genius.
During long periods the flute has been almost synonymous with France, the country from which the music, the great players and the finest instruments all came. The French flute - whether dreamy as in Debussy's Syrinx or sprightly as in Poulenc's Sonata - is simply unmistakeably French, in all its delights. On her new release, renowned flutist Sharon Bezaly - who herself studied in Paris - celebrates this tradition, with a programme consisting of works composed between 1889 and 1946. French Delights is something of a companion piece to a previous Bezaly disc: Café au Lait, a predominantly French flute recital accompanied by Roland Pöntinen. Upon its release that disc, and the artistry of Sharon Bezaly, were highly acclaimed, for instance in French magazine Diapason: 'The flute turns into the voice of enchantment, a lullaby of the senses or an invitation to dreamfulness, into planing light or the glitter of light on water - an instrument almost too beautiful.' Here again, with the support of eminent pianist Love Derwinger, Sharon Bezaly displays her prodigious talent.
