Texte paru dans: / Appeared in: |
|
|
Outil de traduction ~ (Très approximatif) |
|
|
Reviewer: Barry
Brenesal Within a relatively short period of time, four discs featuring airs du cœur have come courtesy of my editor across my desk: Cœur: Airs de cour français de la fin du XVIe siècle (Phaedra 92089), a rerelease of Airs de cour (Linn 089), Stances du Cid: Airs du cour (Glossa 923601), and now this. The first two could be paired off as featuring these airs from their beginnings in the early 17th century: relatively intimate, initially serious but deliberately simple works reacting to an extent against the polyphonic tradition. This album is a closer fit for the later time period and featured composers in Stances du Cid. The emphasis is different, with a more humorous tone filtering in that was introduced first in 1628 through the sell-out publication of Moulinié’s airs à boire, or drinking songs. Lambert gets more exposure than Charpentier among these 20 selections, unlike Stances du Cid, but the music is perceptibly of the same genre, expanded and more sophisticated since the days of its origins. Bien que l’amour is different in another respect. Where Stances du Cid focused on the talents of a single singer, high tenor Cyril Auvity, and the very light accompaniment of L’Yriade—usually one string instrument and harpsichord for any given work, audible but recessed—this release features five singers (Emmanuelle de Negri, Anna Reinhold, Cyril Auvity, Marc Mauillon, Lisandro Abadie) often performing in groups of three or more, with William Christie’s two active violins and viol, theorbo and harpsichord, balanced more assertively against the vocalists. Even the harpsichord by itself on this new release is more forward sounding: Compare, for example, Lambert’s title song for this release, Bien que l’amour, with Charpentier’s Non, non je ne l’aime plus on Stances du Cid. The latter creates a more intimate atmosphere, while the former, both in balance between vocalists and instrumentalists, and the more overtly operatic size of its soloists, seems almost always to suggest stage performance. This style sits uneasily upon the music. “By a secret flame I feel myself consumed,” begins Lambert in one of his songs, performed here by all five singers. But they do so with so much regular swelling and diminishing of the tone, and to such extremes of dynamics, as to suggest Italian music, rather than French; which would be inappropriate for its period, given that this isn’t les goûts-réunis, but a work written many years prior to that movement by Lully’s father-in-law. It would be an exaggeration to speak of Baroque verismo, but here, and in such pieces as Lambert’s Que d’Amants, and Il est vrai, there’s something much closer to Romantic period dramatics. It’s clear the composers of these airs meant them to be performed with expression, but the intensity with which that’s achieved here seems at times out of sync with the time, the works’ probable venues, and our current understanding of the French national style. There are exceptions, for Christie is a past master at designing a varied program. Lambert’s Jugez de ma douleur makes its emotional points with a degree of restraint, abetted by excellent performances from Auvity and de Negri, while Marc Mauillon, supported by theorbo, turns d’Ambruys’s La doux silence de nos bois into something warm and confidential—at least until Christie changes the accompaniment midway to viol, with a far more active part thanks to aggressively Italianate figures that draws attention away from his soloist. So we
find here excellent music, many of my favorite singers in this repertoire,
superb timings—and yet, for me, it comes down to issues with theatrical
style and engineering balance that detract from the level of enjoyment I’d
hoped to find in this album. As clearly this is a matter of taste, I can
only recommend that listeners who enjoy this repertoire as much as I do try
out a selection or two before judging for themselves whether these
performances are over the top or quite acceptable. | |
|
|
|
|
Cliquez l'un ou l'autre
bouton pour découvrir bien d'autres critiques de CD |
|
