L’Heure Exquise: A French Songbook
£14.20
In stock - available for despatch within 1 working day
Despatch Information
This despatch estimate is based on information from both our own stock and the UK supplier's stock.
If ordering multiple items, we will aim to send everything together so the longest despatch estimate will apply to the complete order.
If you would rather receive certain items more quickly, please place them on a separate order.
If any unexpected delays occur, we will keep you informed of progress via email and not allow other items on the order to be held up.
If you would prefer to receive everything together regardless of any delay, please let us know via email.
Pre-orders will be despatched as close as possible to the release date.
Label: Hyperion
Cat No: CDA67962
Format: CD
Number of Discs: 1
Genre: Vocal/Choral
Release Date: 5th May 2015
Contents
Works
Chere nuitLes Nuits d'ete, op.7
Toutes les fleurs
Le Temps des lilas
Chansons (3) de France
Serenade
Chansons grises (7)
Les Feuilles blessees
Les Chemins de l'amour
Aimons-nous et dormons
Soiree en mer
Je te veux
Artists
Alice Coote (mezzo-soprano)Graham Johnson (piano)
Works
Chere nuitLes Nuits d'ete, op.7
Toutes les fleurs
Le Temps des lilas
Chansons (3) de France
Serenade
Chansons grises (7)
Les Feuilles blessees
Les Chemins de l'amour
Aimons-nous et dormons
Soiree en mer
Je te veux
Artists
Alice Coote (mezzo-soprano)Graham Johnson (piano)
About
Sound/Video
Paused
-
1Poulenc - Les Chemins de l'Amour
-
2Hahn - Chansons Grises: no.5 L'Heure Exquise
-
3Hahn - 12 Rondels: no.9 Les Etoiles
-
4Faure - Le Secret
-
5Gounod - Serenade
-
6Gounod - Au printemps
-
7Chabrier - Toutes les fleurs
-
8Chausson - Le temps des lilas
-
9Faure - Fleur jetee
-
10Berlioz - Les Nuits d'Ete: no.2 Le Spectre de la Rose
-
11Saint-Saens - Aimons-nous
-
12Chabrier - L'Ile heureuse
-
13Bachelet - Chere nuit
-
14Saint-Saens - Soiree en mer
-
15Debussy - 3 Chansons de France: no.2 La Grotte
-
16Hahn - Les Feuilles blessees: no.8 Fumee
-
17Satie - Je te veux
-
18Hahn - La Chere blessure
-
19Koechlin - 4 Melodies op.22: no.2 Novembre
-
20Poulenc - Banalities: no.4 Voyage a Paris
-
21Poulenc - Banalites: no.2 Hotel
-
22Poulenc - La Grenouillere
-
23Poulenc - Calligrammes: no.7 Voyage
Europadisc Review
As on The Power of Love, her accompanist here is Graham Johnson, one of the greatest authorities in the field of French song, having not only recorded many of these works before in his survey of the genre for Hyperion but also written authoritatively about them. Together they make the strongest of possible teams, and it proves to be a winning combination, with Coote's richly-grained yet agile voice perfectly complemented by Johnson's nimble, exquisitely-textured and finely-detailed pianism.
This 'French Songbook' is a celebration of love, whether blissful as in the first half of the programme (tracks 1 to 13), the subject of mournful remembrance in the second, or philosophical contemplation in the concluding items. The moods musical styles are correspondingly wide-ranging, from the Parisian boulevards and cabarets to high art songs verging on the operatic, and Coote captures them all perfectly with style and unfailing musicality throughout her vocal range.
The fragile solemnity of Fauré's Le Secret gives way to Gounod's barcarolle-like Sérénade and jaunty Au Printemps. Chabrier's unique Gallic take on Wagnerian style is nicely encapsulated by Toutes les fleurs and L'Îsle heureuse, while Fauré's Fleur jetée – with its echoes of Schubert's Erlkönig (Coote at her most imperious) – is juxtaposed with the delicate beauty of Berlioz's Le Spectre de la rose from Les Nuits d'été.
Love's transitory nature is captured memorably in Debussy's La Grotte and Reynaldo Hahn's Fumée, while Satie's waltz-like Je te veux probes deeper than its surface suggests. Koechlin's Novembre is a hauntingly grey affair, while the closing group of songs by Poulenc (whose charming Les Chemins d'amour opens the disc) range from the beguilingly brief Voyage à Paris to the Proustian La Grenouillère (reminiscences of an island on the Seine) and the elegiac Apollinaire setting Voyage.
There are detailed and illuminating notes from Susan Youens (an authority on art song), and Hyperion's customary care over recording and presentation go hand-in-hand with the performances to make this an irresistible disc.
Error on this page? Let us know here
Need more information on this product? Click here