Formed to promote French Romantic repertoire, Palazzetto Bru Zane is doing sterling work with its Book+CD series. I’m especially enjoying exploring the Opéra français releases and with Les P'tites Michu the series has reached volume 19; a limited edition of 3,000. Incidentally Palazzetto Bru Zane has ceased using Ediciones Singulares as the title of its label which is now called Bru Zane.

Messager was a leading figure in French operetta in the late 1800s and, as a composer of mainly stage works (opéras comiques, opérettes and ballets), is probably best known today for his ballet Les Deux Pigeons. As an admirer of French Romantic music, I am delighted to receive this newly released two CD set of Messager’s Les P'tites Michu (The Little Michus), an operetta I previously knew only by name.

Premièred in November 1897 Les P'tites Michu, an opérette in three acts, quickly became a great success both at home, enjoying one hundred and fifty performances at the Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens, and abroad notably being staged in London and on Broadway. Les P'tites Michu had been written in the wake of several embarrassing failures for Messager, particularly his humiliation with Le chevalier d'Harmental at the Opéra-Comique in 1896, where it was pulled after only six performances. As providence would have it, whilst in England Messager received an unsolicited libretto through the post for the opérette Les P'tites Michu sent by renowned librettists Albert Vanloo and Georges Duval. Messager didn’t know that the libretto had already been rejected by three composers, but clearly fully motivated, he completed the score in just three months. The plot briefly concerns the identities of two little girls, one the daughter of Marquis des Ifs and the other a daughter of Michu who runs a cheese shop. Whilst in his care, Michu mixes up the two girls whilst giving them a bath. Years later, on Blanche-Marie’s wedding day, the Marquis notices her resemblance to his late wife and realises that she must be his daughter.

This recording is taken from live performances at Théâtre Graslin, Nantes with stage direction by Rémy Barché. A fine French cast has been assembled, bringing this sun-drenched comedy to life with singing that sparkles from start to finish. My highlight is from Act Two with soprano Anne-Aurore Cochet and mezzo Violette Polchi singing Blanche-Marie’s and Marie-Blanche’s quite delightful duet Ah! Quel malheur, quel malheur (Oh, what a misfortune). From Act One, in the role of shop assistant Aristide, tenor Artavazd Sargsyan copes well with the couplets Blanche-Marie est douce et bonne (Blanche-Marie is gentle and kind). I notice André Noël (1892-1967) a tenor at the Opéra-Comique made a fascinating early recording of this piece on a collection of his operetta arias for Pathé (N° X. 90019 - N 203201 Choudens) which can be viewed on YouTube. Excelling here in the Act Three Romance a dreamy waltz Vois-tu, je m'en veux à moi-même (You see, I blame myself), Anne-Aurore Cochet is in charming voice as she laments her dreary existence and misses her boarding school. Susan Graham on her 2002 Erato album ‘French Operetta Arias’ has championed Blanche-Marie’s Romance which is a real gem. It’s also contained in her 2010 box set ‘The Art of Susan Graham’ (review). Additionally from act three is Blanche-Marie and Gaston’s attractive duet Rassurez-vous monsieur Gaston (Don’t worry, monsieur Gaston) as they capture the innocence of concealing their sorrow from each other. As the hearty army captain, the smoky tones of Philippe Estèphe contrast well with the Anne-Aurore Cochet’s girlish innocence. Directed by choir-master Xavier Ribes, the Chœur d'Angers Nantes Opéra is in fine order, singing with assurance and unity which are especially noticeable in the splendid Halles ensemble Marchandes et Marchands from Act Three. Under the baton of Pierre Dumoussaud, the Orchestre national des Pays de la Loire (using some forty-five players) performs with verve and sparkle.

Sumptuously presented, the two CDs fit inside a 176-page hard-back book which includes essays, a synopsis and French texts together with an English translation placed alongside. A slight grumble concerns the article ‘P'tites Michu, number by number’ where the pieces discussed are not linked to track numbers. Recorded live in May 2018 at Théâtre Graslin, Nantes, the overall sound has a satisfying quality and is well balanced. Not surprisingly, the recording has some minor stage noise and applause has been retained at the conclusion.

Bru Zane’s Opéra français series continues to captivate and with Messager’s opérette Les P'tites Michu grandly maintains its high standards.

– MusicWeb International (Michael Cookson)

La Fille de Madame Angot, an opéra-comique in three acts, was premiered at the Théâtre des Fantaisies-Parisiennes in Brussels on 4 December 1872 before scoring a similar triumph in France on 21 February 1873. In the Paris of the Directory period, Clairette Angot, an orphan raised by the people of Les Halles market, falls in love with the songwriter Ange Pitou. But, after many amorous and political plot twists, she resigns herself to marrying the wigmaker Pomponnet. Lecocq’s score, with its succession of hit numbers, created such enthusiasm that it enjoyed a run of more than four hundred performances at the Folies-Dramatiques, before conquering the French provinces and then the whole world in various translations. The work is still a relatively popular staple of the light operatic repertory even today. The Palazzetto Bru Zane here presents the first recording of the original version, with its unusual orchestration and several numbers that have fallen into oblivion.

REVIEWS:

La Fille de Mme Angot is a delightful show; and this new recording, which includes some changes from other recordings, is outstanding. It has been recorded before, but the earlier recordings were edited or shortened. Bru Zane’s new recording is the first of the original 1872 Brussels version using the operetta’s original orchestrations and contents.

The libretto (by Charles Clairville, Paul Siraudin, and Victor Konig) is set in the regime of post-revolutionary France, in the period before Napoleon and after Danton and Robespierre. Those intervening years were nostalgic for the 1872 audience, and the action was far enough in the past for a comic operetta. There are some allusions to this political tension when some of the characters support opposing sides. This is all lightened by LeCocq’s ingratiating score, and the proceedings are kept buoyant. The operetta was extremely popular and had almost 1000 performances in Brussels and Paris in its initial runs. Eventually it proved to be the most popular operetta of late-19th Century French theatre.

The new recording is simply delightful, the singing and playing effervescent. The cast is exceptional. Standouts include Veronique Gens as Mlle Lange and Anne-Catherine Gillet as Clairette. These ladies carry the show and their acting and singing is first-rate. The men are just as fine, with Mathias Vidal’s ripe tenor as the fickle Pitou, Artavazd Sargsyan as the fussy Pomponnet, and Matthieu Lecroart as the deceived Larivaudiere. Conductor Rouland leads the spritely orchestra, and the chorus is lively.

Bru Zane’s luxurious bound-in book includes a complete French and English libretto, track listings, notes, photos, drawings, and commentary. I would suggest purchasing this outstanding recording as soon as possible. My review copy is number 2426 of a limited edition of 4500.

-- American Record Guide

The myth of Phaedra and Hippolytus, as terrible as it is fascinating, has been retold by many artists over the centuries, including composers. This recording presents the first performance of Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne’s opera in its complete form since the premiere. It reveals a work whose classical surface conceals a style that is vehement, exalted and threatening by turns, a thrilling testimony to the bubbling energy of pre-Romanticism. Served by the total commitment of the Orfeo Orchestra and Purcell Choir under the direction of György Vashegyi, the drama closes in on the inescapable destinies of Phèdre, Hippolyte and Thésée, movingly sung by Judith van Wanroij, Julien Behr and Tassis Christoyannis.

REVIEW:

Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne is hardly known. He had a comparatively short life from 1751 to 1792. From the rural Dordogne, where he was born, he joined a traveling opera company and reached Berlin. He had some success in Prussia and in Poland. When he returned to France, two of his operas (Electre and Phèdre) had excellent reviews and the audience's favor; thus, they had several performances. However, he got entangled in the infighting between Christoph Willibald Gluck, on the one hand, and Niccolò Piccinni and Antonio Sacchini, on the other, for the primacy in Paris musical scene. This undermined his career; his later operas had a somewhat limited success. Until now, Lemoyne was almost forgotten.

The plot follows quite closely Euripides' tragedy that was set to music even by contemporary composers such as Sylvano Bussotti. The syntax and style of Lemoyne's opera follows quite strictly the rules of the tragédie lyrique as formalized by Christoph Willibald Gluck, including ballet music.

The distinct feature of Lemoyne's opera is the weight and importance given to the protagonist. The role is sung by the Dutch soprano Judith van Wanroij: it fits her perfectly as can be felt in her initial major arias, with chorus as well as with other members of the cast.

The strength of her voice and her dramatic intensity spring up in the first act finale when almost the whole company is on stage.

In the second act, the scene when Phèdre attempts to seduce her stepson, Hippolyte, is very sensual, not only dramatic.

So is their duet.

In the third act, the climax is reached in the storm scene and the death of Hippolyte first, and Phèdre, later.

The CD was recorded in Budapest in the Béla Bartók Concert Hall in September 2019. György Vashegyi conducts the Orfeo Orchestra and the Purcell Chorus skilfully and with the proper touch for a tragédie lyrique.

Hippolyte is Julien Behr, a good French agility tenor.

Thésée is Tassis Christoyannis a solid Greek baritone who has often collaborated with Palazzetto Bru Zane in recitals of French melodies. Oenone is Melody Louledjian. It is worth listening to their Act III recitative Ô jour affreux! ô destin déplorable.

In short, this is a real discovery.

-- Classical Music Daily

How about a trip back to the Annees Folles in the company of Sacha Guitry? With this musical comedy composed by Reynaldo Hahn, which was a triumph for Arletty, the Palazzetto Bru Zane reveals the hectic adventures of the hatter Prosper Aubertin. He dreams of extramarital adventures, but among the replies to the classified ad he places, how surprised he is to discover letters from his wife, his daughter and his maid! The piece was Guitry’s second collaboration with Hahn. ‘What [else] do you need to be happy?’ as the chambermaid asks in Act Three? Veronique Gens bubbling with mischief, and the Orchestre National d’Avignon dynamised by the conducting of Samuel Jean.

In the firmament of the French mélodie repertory, stars named Chausson, Duparc, Debussy, Fauré, Poulenc shine resplendent. Somewhere below this galaxy, an endearing personality has succeeded in carving himself a modest but indisputable niche in posterity: Reynaldo Hahn (1874-1947). An emblematic figure of the Belle Époque, a link between Romanticism and the Anneés Folles, he was Marcel Proust’s lover and – above all – the composer of a handful of mélodies that have enjoyed undimmed success ever since: Si mes vers avaient des ailes, L’Heure exquise, D’une prison and À Chloris. Yet the disconcerting fact is that almost three-quarters of Hahn’s output for voice and piano have almost never been recorded (or recorded on such esoteric labels that they might as well not have been) when all mélodie specialists acknowledge his unquestioned talent in the field. This simple observation was the starting point of the Palazzetto Bru Zane’s project to record his complete mélodies for solo voice and piano, with the friendly cooperation of the baritone Tassis Christoyannis and his faithful acolyte, the pianist Jeff Cohen.

REVIEW:

Reynaldo Hahn’s contributions to the French art song tradition may be underestimated. One reason is that only a handful of his songs frequently turn up on disc and in recital. However, this splendid release devoted to the composer’s 107 solo songs aims to put the situation right.

In a certain sense, Hahn had songwriting in his blood. He was a singer of distinction and no mean pianist, gifted with an astute command of prosody and a refined ear. These factors all enhance the scope and range of his output. To hear what I mean, sample the Verlaine settings that comprise the song cycle Chansons grises. Its opening salvo Chanson d’automne resembles a clever retooling of “Dark Eyes”, while the concluding song La bonne chanson conveys a Schumann-esque urgency.

The extensive cycle Premier recueil abounds with variety. At first you might write off Reverie as an innocuous tango, yet the melodic twists and turns preclude any predictable outcome. By contrast, it’s followed by a song that’s pure, innocent Mendelssohn. Seule transpires at a lilting trot that’s slightly offset by Hahn’s telling deployment of the piano’s lower register. I especially love Paysage, where the long vocal line and sustained piano chords float alongside each other like those proverbial ships slowly passing in the night. To hear Hahn at his most harmonically sophisticated, check out the agitato qualities of Les fontaines, or the English-language cycle Love Without Wings.

Ideally one might want to experience the totality of Hahn’s songs with different voice types, yet the Greek baritone Tassis Christoyannis never lets you down. His intonation is as perfect as his diction (yes, he betrays a slight accent in the English songs, but his French is mightily impressive!), while his supple legato allows for seamless negotiation of wide intervals. He subtly adjusts his timbre and attitude to address each song’s character, from Venezia’s sardonic undertones to the understatement and simplicity he brings to L’heure exquise, which may be Hahn’s greatest hit, if not necessarily his greatest song.

Pianist Jeff Cohen proves every inch the equal partner in this endeavor; he knows exactly when to support the singer and when to assert his polished and sensitive virtuosity. A 134-page booklet includes excellent annotations plus complete texts and translations. In sum, a release that significantly contributes to the catalog, and deserves serious attention from anyone who cares about art song.

– ClassicsToday (Jed Distler)

Gounod contemplated a Faust opera as early as his residence in Rome in the 1840s. But almost twenty years were to elapse before one of the most famous works of French Romanticism was premiered at the Théâtre-Lyrique (1859). Its debut at the Opéra in 1869 propelled the work into theatres all over the world, but numerous modifications were the price of achieving that fame. Between the Faust of 1859 and its counterpart of 1869, some of the spirit has evaporated: the spontaneity of the spoken dialogue and melodrama, the pawky humour of Dame Marthe, the cynicism of Méphistophélès. We have forgotten the charm of the first tenors who sang ‘Salut, demeure chaste et pure’ with the timbre typical of the voix mixte of opéra-comique. Moreover, a large number of pieces were consigned to oblivion by these modifications. To discover this first Faust is to gain a deeper insight into the French aesthetic of demi-caractère, so specific to Paris in the 1850s.

REVIEW:

The version of Faust known and beloved by operaphiles is a grand opera, sung throughout. But Gounod originally conceived of the work as an opéra-comique, with spoken dialogue and melodramas interspersed between the purely sung portions. The 1859 Faust is a strikingly different work from its familiar grand opera successor. And I am not at all prepared to say that is an inferior one. Had the Bru Zane recording been merely professional and competent, it still would have been of great importance. But this is a superb achievement, with a marvelous cast, led by Bernheim in the title role. Conductor Christophe Rousset, leading the period instrument Les Talens Lyrique, provides a reading that is a revelation in terms of propulsive momentum, dramatic bite, and an exploration of Gounod’s sound world. You may find yourself shocked at how revolutionary and thrilling Gounod’s warhorse sounds in the hands of these artists. This is the type of project that epitomizes the potential and value of sound recordings.

-- Fanfare

Abundant though it is, César Franck’s vocal music (operas, sacred music, oratorios, mélodies) does not occupy a prominent place in the current repertory. His instrumental compositions – headed by the Violin Sonata in A major and followed by the organ works – represent virtually all that today’s audiences and musicians know of his output. Yet the mélodies and vocal duets, neglected by performers and publishers alike, deserve to be plucked from oblivion, both for their own sake and for their place in the history of French music. The alluring voices of Tassis Christoyannis and Véronique Gens immerse the listener in the atmosphere of the nineteenth-century Parisian salons and the mélodies performed there. The composer and organist César Franck, famed for his instrumental music, proves himself equally skilled in setting poems by Musset, Hugo, Chateaubriand, Daudet and Dumas. This first complete recording of his works for voice and piano ranges over his entire creative life.

REVIEWS:

Of Franck’s overlooked works, probably none are more so than his mélodies (songs). Now, with this new release, Bru Zane provide what is described as the first complete recording of Franck’s works for voice and piano. This collection of 22 mélodies and 6 duos range throughout most of Franck’s compositional life, commencing in 1843 when he was just out of his teens with Robin Gray and Le Sylphe through to 1889 with Les Cloches du soir and La Procession written close to the end of his life. For his melodies, Franck elected to set French texts headed by Victor Hugo with six and also François-René de Chateaubriand, Alphonse Daudet, Alexandre Dumas, Joseph Méry and others.

Bru Zane has entrusted this Franck collection to Greek baritone Tassis Christoyannis and American pianist Jeff Cohen...Christoyannis shines throughout for his reliably warm and appealing tone coupled with the responsive accompaniment from Cohen.

In the set of 6 Duos Christoyannis is partnered by renowned French soprano Véronique Gens who also sings a single mélodie...Her voice remains in outstanding condition and dependably attractive, displaying a special gift for expression. Written in 1888 the 6 Duos, settings of text by five different writers, best evokes the atmosphere of the Parisian salon in the Belle Époque. Christoyannis [has] ease of delivery and Gens[,] engaging charm... 

Sound engineer Matteo Costa has achieved splendid clarity and balance between singers and piano. It’s hard to fault the presentation of Bru Zane releases and this album is no exception. In the accompanying booklet there are a pair of essays Another side to César Franck by Alexandre Dratwicki and The Songs and Duets of César Franck by Jean-Philippe Navarre. There is also detailed and helpful information given for each of the twenty-eight songs/duets together with several reproductions of artworks and documents of the period. The French texts provided with English translations alongside are invaluable.

Beautifully performed, recorded and presented, this album of the complete Songs and Duets of César Franck is an appealing addition to the catalogue.

--MusicWeb International (Michael Cookson)

To mark the centenary of the death of Camille Saint-Saëns, the Palazzetto Bru Zane offers a chance to discover one of his most performed and admired operas in his lifetime, presented here in a rare version. Completed in 1893 and premiered the same year at the Opéra-Comique, the piece amusingly recounts the love affair between Nicias and Phryné, who dupes the old archon Dicephilus in order to avenge his cruelty. Its witty melodies and delightful orchestration made the opera an immediate success in Paris and then throughout France. It was enriched with recitatives composed by André Messager in 1896 to promote its career in theatres abroad.

Hervé Niquet’s dashing interpretation brings out to the full the qualities of the Orchestre de l’Opéra de Rouen Normandie and the Chœur du Concert Spirituel, thus providing a sparkling backdrop for the virtuosic soprano voice of Florie Valiquette, the refined lyricism of the tenor Cyrille Dubois and the vocal authority of Thomas Dolié’s baritone.

REVIEWS:

Undoubtedly, Saint-Saëns’ lesser-known operas have featured heavily in Bru Zane’s CD-book series with releases of La princesse jaune, Le Timbre d’argent, Proserpine, Les Barbares and his Cantatas of the Prix de Rome. Bru Zane’s interest in neglected Saint-Saëns opera continues with this new release of Phryné, an hour-long opéra-comique in two acts. This is the world premiere recording of the André Messager version of 1896.

Bru Zane has assembled a talented cast of mainly first-language French speakers. Young soprano Florie Valiquette has had success as Barberine (Le nozze di Figaro), Madeleine/Madame de Latour (Le Postillon de Lonjumeau) and Gabrielle (La Vie Parisienne) this year. She sings the eponymous role here with fresh voice and no shortage of enthusiasm. In Phryné’s Act Two air Un soir, j’errais sur le rivage where she implores Aphrodite the goddess of love to safeguard her love for Nicias, she characterises well and is in splendid voice, light and attractive with a pleasing tenderness and purity.

Hervé Niquet conducts the Orchestre de l'Opéra de Rouen Normandie and the combination is a successful one. I’ve not encountered this Rouen orchestra too often; its playing has commitment, energy and, when required, a pleasing level of sensitivity. The well trained Choeur du Concert Spirituel makes a valuable contribution.

This world premiere recording was satisfyingly recorded in 2021 under studio conditions in the Opéra de Rouen Normandie. A high-end product, Bru Zane’s CD-book series of bilingual editions in French and English maintains its high standards with Phryné and contains a synopsis, five helpful essays and, most importantly the full libretto.

-- MusicWeb International