Berlioz: Nuits d'Ete, Handel: Arias

Berlioz: Nuits d'Ete, Handel: Arias

Berlioz: Nuits d'Ete, Handel: Arias
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CD Details

Orchestra: Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra
Conductor: Nicholas McGegan
Composer: Hector Berlioz
Composer: George Frideric Handel
Edition: Music CD
Audio: English (Unknown)
CD Release Date: 2011-03-08
Music Label: Philharmonia Baroque Productions
Soundtracks:
  1. Les Nuits d'été, song cycle for voice & piano (or orchestra), H. 81 (Op. 7): Villanelle
  2. Les Nuits d'été, song cycle for voice & piano (or orchestra), H. 81 (Op. 7): Le Spectre de la rose
  3. Les Nuits d'été, song cycle for voice & piano (or orchestra), H. 81 (Op. 7): Sur les lagunes (lamento)
  4. Les Nuits d'été, song cycle for voice & piano (or orchestra), H. 81 (Op. 7): Absence
  5. Les Nuits d'été, song cycle for voice & piano (or orchestra), H. 81 (Op. 7): Au Cimetière (Claire de lune)
  6. Les Nuits d'été, song cycle for voice & piano (or orchestra), H. 81 (Op. 7): L'�le inconnue
  7. Giulio Cesare in Egitto, opera, HWV 17: Figlio non è
  8. Giulio Cesare in Egitto, opera, HWV 17: L'angue offeso mai riposa
  9. Ottone, re di Germania, opera, HWV 15: Ben a raggion
  10. Ottone, re di Germania, opera, HWV 15: Vieni, o figlio, e mi consola
  11. Arianna in Creta, opera, HWV 32: Mirami altero in volto
  12. Giulio Cesare in Egitto, opera, HWV 17: La giustizia ha già sull'arco
  13. Radamisto, opera, HWV 12: Ombra cara di mia sposa
  14. Agrippina, opera, HWV 6: Ogni vento, ch'al porto lo spinga
  15. Radamisto, opera, HWV 12: Qual nave smarrita

Music reviews of Berlioz: Nuits d'Ete, Handel: Arias

Music Review: Another Memento of Hunt's Greatness
Rating: 5 Stars

I had so longed for a recording of Nuits d'Eté by Lorraine Hunt Lieberson not knowing that this one existed that when I first read of its publication I wasted no time in ordering it. No degree of anticipation exceeded the pleasure of actually hearing it. The Berlioz is taken from live concerts in Berkeley in November 1995. Though not strictly speaking a cycle, indeed, not even written for a specific single voice, the Berlioz songs have a kinship of soul that holds them together with a special magic. The songs are sublime, individually and collectively. Hunt Lieberson luxuriates. She chooses a contralto reading that shows off the deep luster of her rich, perfectly equalized voice, but always at the service of the music, and with a thorough understanding of Gautier's text. She is helped immesurably by Nicholas McGegan and the Philharmonia Baroque. For example, the measured tempo he takes for Le Spectre de la Rose always preserves the hidden waltz behind the music and allows us to wallow in the incomparable richness and beauty of Hunt Lieberson's voice at its freshest, most ample, most communicative and most exquisite. Le Spectre is one of the greatest songs ever written by any composer. This is a performance that makes such truth self-evident. These songs have been well served by many (even if Maggie Teyte did not give us a complete cycle). I have or have heard most if not all. However there are a select few that stand out, that are marked for me with special vocal and interpretative qualities that set them apart, such as Brigitte Baileys, Regine Crespin, and Victoria de los Angeles. Lorraine Hunt Lieberson's performance now joins this less than a handful group of my preferred performances.

Years later, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson sang a masterful Dido in Les Troyens at the Met with Ben Heppner as Aenée. This performance has been issued by the Met as part of a big box commemorating Levine's tenure at the Met. To my knowledge there are no plans to issue Les Troyens as an individual set.

The Haendel component of this set is marvelously sung even if, by now, a known quantity even if no duplication is involved. Indeed the combination Haendel/Hunt-Lieberson/McGegan/Philharmonia Baroque has a long and prestigious history. The various selections from Giulio Cesare, Agrippina, Radamisto and Arianna included here from a single concert on the night of Saturday 19 October 1991 give much pleasure and gave no hint of the tragic fires that would sweep the surrounding Berkeley/Oakland Hills before sunrise the following morning and forced the cancellation of the Sunday concert.

But make no mistake, the treasure here is Les Nuits d'Eté, and we must consider ourselves lucky that Philharmonia Baroque decided to record its concerts, indeed in pristine fashion, way back in 1995, that its audiences at the First Congregational Church in Berkeley were so well behaved as to seem totally absent, and that now it has chosen to issue them on its own label for our wonderment and delight.
More Berlioz: Nuits d'Ete, Handel: Arias free music reviews:
1

Description of Berlioz: Nuits d'Ete, Handel: Arias

In conjunction with the Orchestra s 30th Anniversary Season, Music Director Nicholas McGegan and Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra announce the launch of the ensemble s own recording label, Philharmonia Baroque Productions. The label s début release showcases the late Lorraine Hunt Lieberson in a live 1995 recording of Berlioz s Les Nuits d été and a live 1991 recording of arias from Handel s Giulio Cesare, Ottone, Arianna, Radamisto, and Agrippina. Hunt Lieberson had a long and fruitful relationship with McGegan and Philharmonia Baroque. The Berlioz is the last of seven acclaimed recordings she made with the orchestra and the first time she ever sang the full Berlioz song cycle in performance. Lorraine was in her element, and the result was splendid. These incredibly moving performances are now available to a wide audience for the first time.

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