Joan Sutherland: Romantic French Arias | Australian Eloquence ELQ4844321

Joan Sutherland: Romantic French Arias

£14.20

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Label: Australian Eloquence

Cat No: ELQ4844321

Format: CD

Number of Discs: 2

Genre: Vocal/Choral

Release Date: 8th April 2022

Contents

Works

Auber, Daniel

Fra Diavolo
» Non temete milord... Or son sola
Manon Lescaut
» C'est l'histoire amoureuse

Bizet, Georges

Les Pecheurs de perles (The Pearl Fishers)
» Me voila seul ... Comme autrefois dans la nuit sombre
Pastorale
Vasco da Gama
» Marguerite a ferme sa corolle
» Ouvre ton coeur

Charpentier, Gustave

Louise
» Depuis le jour (Act 3)

Delibes, Leo

Le Rossignol for voice, flute and piano
Les filles de Cadix

Faure, Gabriel

Songs (2), op.1
» no.1 Le papillon et la fleur

Gounod, Charles

Faust
» Si le bonheur a sourire t'invite
Le Tribut de Zamora
» Ce Sarasin disait
Mireille
» O legere hirondelle
Serenade

Lecocq, Charles

Le Coeur et la main
» Un soir Perez le capitaine

Masse, Victor

Les Noces de Jeanette
» Au bord du chemin... Cette nuit, sur ma croisee

Massenet, Jules

Cendrillon (Cinderella)
» Ah! que mes soeurs sont heureuses!
» Reste au foyer, petit grillon
Oh! Si les fleurs avaient des yeux

Meyerbeer, Giacomo

Dinorah
» Bellah! Ma chevre cherie! ... Dors, petite
L'Etoile du nord
» C’est bien lui… La la la air cheri!
» Veille sur eux ... Vaisseau que le flot balance
Robert le diable (Robert the Devil)
» En vain j'espere ... Idole de ma vie

Offenbach, Jacques

La Grande-Duchesse de Gerolstein
» Dites-lui qu'on l'a remarque
» Vous aimez le danger... Ah! que j'aime les militaires
Les Contes d'Hoffmann (The Tales of Hoffmann)
» Les oiseaux dans la charmille
Robinson Crusoe
» Conduisez-moi vers celui que j'adore

Artists

Joan Sutherland (soprano)
Richard Bonynge (piano)
Orchestre de la Suisse Romande

Conductor

Richard Bonynge

Works

Auber, Daniel

Fra Diavolo
» Non temete milord... Or son sola
Manon Lescaut
» C'est l'histoire amoureuse

Bizet, Georges

Les Pecheurs de perles (The Pearl Fishers)
» Me voila seul ... Comme autrefois dans la nuit sombre
Pastorale
Vasco da Gama
» Marguerite a ferme sa corolle
» Ouvre ton coeur

Charpentier, Gustave

Louise
» Depuis le jour (Act 3)

Delibes, Leo

Le Rossignol for voice, flute and piano
Les filles de Cadix

Faure, Gabriel

Songs (2), op.1
» no.1 Le papillon et la fleur

Gounod, Charles

Faust
» Si le bonheur a sourire t'invite
Le Tribut de Zamora
» Ce Sarasin disait
Mireille
» O legere hirondelle
Serenade

Lecocq, Charles

Le Coeur et la main
» Un soir Perez le capitaine

Masse, Victor

Les Noces de Jeanette
» Au bord du chemin... Cette nuit, sur ma croisee

Massenet, Jules

Cendrillon (Cinderella)
» Ah! que mes soeurs sont heureuses!
» Reste au foyer, petit grillon
Oh! Si les fleurs avaient des yeux

Meyerbeer, Giacomo

Dinorah
» Bellah! Ma chevre cherie! ... Dors, petite
L'Etoile du nord
» C’est bien lui… La la la air cheri!
» Veille sur eux ... Vaisseau que le flot balance
Robert le diable (Robert the Devil)
» En vain j'espere ... Idole de ma vie

Offenbach, Jacques

La Grande-Duchesse de Gerolstein
» Dites-lui qu'on l'a remarque
» Vous aimez le danger... Ah! que j'aime les militaires
Les Contes d'Hoffmann (The Tales of Hoffmann)
» Les oiseaux dans la charmille
Robinson Crusoe
» Conduisez-moi vers celui que j'adore

Artists

Joan Sutherland (soprano)
Richard Bonynge (piano)
Orchestre de la Suisse Romande

Conductor

Richard Bonynge

About

One of Dame Joan Sutherland’s own favourite recordings, long unavailable on its own, reissued with additional material recorded at the Geneva sessions, with rarely seen photographs and a new booklet introduction.

In her introduction to this reissue of Sutherland’s 1969 recording of Romantic French Arias, Fiona Janes notes that the album was made just shy of the soprano’s 43rd birthday, roughly halfway through her career. A distinguished mezzo-soprano herself, Janes is now Artistic Director of the Joan Sutherland & Richard Bonynge Foundation. The Foundation’s mission is to foster the next generation of operatic artists through competitions and scholarships; the technical finesse and dedication of Sutherland to her art remain models for any aspiring singer, and this album stands testament to her ambition to conquer the coloratura repertoire in an area – French grand opera and opéra comique – which had not previously been considered her home territory.

Sutherland’s husband and coach Richard Bonynge was candid about the acrobatic as well as artistic nature of her act, both on stage and in the studio: ‘the public that comes to a bel canto opera is coming to a vocal circus – the critics have said that against us, I’ll say it for us. The singers are treading the high wires, they’re doing vocal gymnastics, and if they’re big singers and they bring it off well, it’s very exciting.’

Few vocal recital albums – sung by her or anyone else – demonstrate the thrill of that encounter as vividly as this one. Showpieces from Auber’s Fra Diavolo, Offenbach’s Robinson Crusoe and Meyerbeer’s L’Etoile du nord in particular require and receive an astonishing agility, lightness of touch, security of register and delicacy of temperament. Sutherland is in spectacular form and at the pinnacle of her virtuosic powers, making every cadenza, arpeggio and high note sound not only effortless but always beautiful in some of the most exquisite and technically demanding French arias ever written.

Janes also reports the pleasure Bonynge had making this album in Geneva with the Suisse Romande Orchestra who had been so thoroughly schooled in the right kind of attack and phrasing required for this music by their founder- conductor Ernest Ansermet. While pyrotechnics were always Sutherland’s trademark, however, she was equally at home producing long legato lines of lilting warmth as can be heard in Meyerbeer’s Dinorah.

For artists and listeners alike, this is an album of pure delight.

The original arias album is filled out by a short recital of French songs, recorded at the same sessions with Bonynge at the piano but only first published in 2004.

“The mixture of fireworks and cool, tender romanticism is well managed … Good accompaniment and outstanding recording quality.” – Gramophone, October 1970

“She has an exceedingly large amount of showy and intricately written music to sing, and she carries out the task without ever misplacing a note or uttering one of doubtful intonation … deserves high praise for imagination, industry and an impressive level of excellence.” – High Fidelity, January 1971

“The more difficult the music sounds, the better she does it.” – Fanfare, March 1983

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