Berlioz: Les Nuits d'Été
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CD Details
Edition: Music CDCD Release Date: 2004-05-04
Music Label: EMI Classics
Soundtracks:
- Villanelle
- Le Spectre De La Rose
- Sur Les Legunes
- Absence
- Au Cimetiere
- L'Ile Inconnue
- Les Troyens: Pantomime De L'Acte II - Richard Vieille
- I - Le Reveil De La Mariee
- II - La-bas, Vers L'Eglise
- III - Quel Galant M'est Comparable
- IV - Chanson Des Cueilleuses De Lentisques
- V - Tout Gai!
- Pavane Pour Une Infante Defunte - Daniel Catalanotti
- En Sourdine Op.58 No.2 - Daniel Arrignon
- Mandoline Op.58 No.1 - Daniel Arrignon
- Clair De Lune Op.46 No.2 - Daniel Arrignon
- Elegie Pour Violincelle Et Orchestre En Ut Mineur, Op.24
Music reviews of Berlioz: Les Nuits d'Été
Music Review: A Most Beautiful, Breathtaking Recital
Rating: 5 Stars
The three song cycles on "Berlioz: Les Nuits d'Ete" represent yet another dramatic departure for countertenor David Daniels, as he continues to break new ground with his incredibly rich and flexible voice. He already took a wildly imaginative leap with last year's "A Quiet Thing" (also strongly recommended), but this time, he takes a different direction with a seamless program of mid-to-late 19th century French art songs from Berlioz and Faure and early 20th century Greek folk songs from Ravel.
One could start to take for granted Daniels' immense skill and vocal dexterity if he were to stay within the strict realm of Handel arias and Baroque cantatas...and some of his more myopic, bluenose critics would prefer that. However, he continues to expand the countertenor repertoire in an exciting way without losing his artistic integrity, no small accomplishment considering how he is the one who brought his particular voice type to a whole new audience. Yet one never gets the sense that he is showboating for the masses, rather Daniels stays true to where he sees his own potential for growth as a performer. Adding to that evolution, his voice on this CD has taken on a burnished tonal quality that is less preternaturally gymnastic and more nuanced than his earlier CDs. Evidence of this wondrous evolution can be found on his takes of Berlioz's "La spectre de la rose" and Faure's "En sourdine". By the way, the French pouring out of this South Carolina-born and -bred singer is impeccable.
What is particularly nice about this disc is that it feels like an actual recital complete with long instrumental interludes from conductor John Nelson and the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, who provide smooth, melodious transitions between the disparate cycles. Ravel's "Pavane pour une infante defunte" is particularly beautiful. The cumulative effect is dreamlike, haunting and extremely heartfelt. It is hard to imagine that a more beautifully crafted CD could be released this year.
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Description of Berlioz: Les Nuits d'Été
Lovers of great singing, rejoice! David Daniels is branching out from the baroque repertoire that made him famous and proving that he can be equally at home anywhere in the literature. He makes these French songs sound as if they had been written for him, though in fact Berlioz intended his cycle to be sung by different voices. Daniels brings out the songs' infinite variety of mood, atmosphere and character with total identification. His vocal range and palette of nuance, color and inflection seem unlimited; he can brighten his voice like a soprano's or darken it like an alto's, as the expression demands, without losing his flawless intonation, legato or breath-control. Berlioz' wonderful, deeply moving settings of love poems by Gautier begin with a sunny, carefree song and end with a joyous, fanciful one, but the other four are dark and mournful, lamenting the absence, loss or death of the beloved with numb or passionate anguish. No. 4, "The Absence," is based on Berlioz' favorite interval of despair, the hollow tritone. By contrast, Ravel's five songs on anonymous texts are bright and spirited, full of wit, humor and fun, and successfully combine a feeling of folk music and folk dance with ironic sophistication. Fauré's affinity for the poetry of Verlaine inspired some of his finest songs. The three recorded here are charming, lyrical, airy and lilting, with sweeping, surging accompaniments. All three composers were famous for their mastery of instrumentation, and their orchestrations are indeed fabulous: colorful, glittering, evocative of mood and atmosphere. (Manuel Rosenthal, who orchestrated three of Ravel's songs, caught the master's style very well.) The orchestra is excellent; perhaps to showcase the principal players and create variety, there are three instrumental numbers: "Pantomime" from Berlioz' opera "Les Troyens," Ravel's "Pavane une infante de'funte" for solo clarinet and horn, and Fauré's "Elegy" for solo cello, all played beautifully. --Edith EislerClassical CDs
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