Written at the very end of the
nineteenth century, just before his premature death at the age of 44
in a bicycle accident, Ernest Chausson's Poème de l'Amour et de
la Mer has always had a special place in my affections. It has
excellent previous recordings from the likes of Janet Baker and Susan
Graham, but today I wallowed in its lush self-pity with a new
recording where it is sung by Véronique Gens, one of my
favourite singers, and a soprano with exemplary diction where you can
hear every word she is singing. It's a lovely performance and
recording, with the Lille Orchestra under its new conductor Alexandre
Bloch. Three stars.
The CD continues with Chausson's
Symphony, another lush, late-Romantic work that never seems to have
made it into the standard repertoire. Well worth hearing however, and
well recorded. As far as I can judge, the Lille performance under
Bloch is excellent.
No comments:
Post a Comment