Paris 1913: L’Offrande lyrique
Claire Booth (soprano)
Andrew Matthews-Owen (piano)
rec. 2022/23, Wyastone Concert Hall, UK
Includes French texts with English translation available to download.
Nimbus NI6455 [66]
If Paris wasn’t already the world’s focal point for musical thought and innovation, it certainly became so in 1913. This was the same year that Stravinsky’s ballet Le Sacre du printemps created a volcanic eruption which forever changed the directions of western music, dance and design for the stage. This CD brings together a collection of chansons by various French composers that were all written in that same year.
The recital begins not with something avant-garde but with a bright and breezy mélodie by Andre Caplet which is sung to a medieval poem penned by Charles, duc d’Orleans (1394-1465). Its tender strophes look back to the past in words which effusively praise the beauty of nature, while the harmonies glance forward to the world of 20th century song composition.
Soprano Claire Booth is a pleasing soloist who accompanies the listener along this meandering pathway of song. Her voice is both sweet and effervescent; her timbre is infused with light, although at times it can become a little fluttery sounding when she applies too much pressure in her upper range. In the much recorded À Chloris by Reynaldo Hahn, her tone comes across in a slightly monochromatic manner, especially if one compares it to the exquisite shadings given to it by a singer such as Susan Graham on her Sony recital disc La Belle Époque.
Despite the fact that her voice doesn’t expand sweetly enough above the staff she still excels in her interpretation of the wider ranging songs of Ravel’s beautiful Trois poèmes de Mallarmé . In this song cycle she easily encompasses the vocal lines which wander unhindered across a wide continuum.
The centerpiece of this recital, at least according to the accompanying booklet, is the world premiere performance and recording of Louis Durey’s L’Offrande lyrique, which is a series of six brief songs inspired by the poetry of Rabindranath Tagore. According to the booklet, this Bengali poet won the Nobel prize for literature in 1913. Tagore’s poetry would also become the text for Alexander Zemlinsky’s Lyric Symphony from 1924. The songs in this cycle are the French musical establishment’s introduction to the revolutionary sound world of songs in Arnold Schoenberg’s twelve tone scale. The booklet states that these Durey songs were inspired by Schoenberg’s Das Buch der Hängenden Gärten (The Book of Hanging Gardens). Booth gives a lovely account of these songs, which is especially enhanced by the sensitive accompaniments of Andrew Matthews-Owen. Throughout the CD, the sounds emanating from Matthews-Owen’s piano are a joy to encounter and they have been captured in very atmospheric sound by the engineers.
There is much to derive pleasure from on this disc; other highlights include Debussy’s wonderful Éventail from his own cycle of Trois poèmes de Mallarmé. The concluding song is the intriguingly Spanish themed Guitares et Mandolines by composer Gabriel Grovlez to words that had been written by the earlier composer Camille Saint-Saëns for his own composition dating from 1890. The inclusion of this piece quite nicely brings the recital back to its beginning, in that it simultaneously looks back into the past and forward towards the future.
My one real caveat with this disc is that, while Nimbus have provided the full French texts of all of the songs, unless one is very familiar with French the booklet will be of little use. The booklet lists a website in which English translations of the texts are available for download but I was unable to get my browser to open the site. A pity, as it hampers true enjoyment of this disc to its fullest potential. However, those who are truly curious should not hesitate to investigate this intriguing new disc.
Mike Parr
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Contents
En regardant ces belles fleurs, André Caplet
Trois poèmes en prose de Lucile de Chateaubriand, Op. 10: No. 3, L’innocence, Darius Milhaud
À Chloris, Reynaldo Hahn
Trois poemes de Stephane Mallarmé, Maurice Ravel
No. 1, Soupir
No. 2, Placet futile
No. 3, Surgi de la croupe et du bond
3 Interludes: No. 1, Le Pouf, Georges Auric
La Route, Guy Ropartz
L’Offrande lyrique, Op. 4, Louis Durey
No. 1, Le jour n’est plus
No. 2, Au petit matin
No. 3, Les nuages s’entassent
No. 4, Tu es le ciel
No. 5, Cueille cette frêle fleuron
No. 6, Lumière ! Ma lumière !
Le Cendre Rouge, Op. 146: No. 9, Petite main, Camille Saint-Saëns
Le Jardin Clos, Op. 106: No. 7, Il m’est cher, Amour, le bandeau, Gabriel Fauré
Je voudrais être une fleur, Cécile de Chaminade
Trois poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé, M.64, Claude Debussy
No. 1, Soupir
No. 2, Placet futile
No. 3, Eventail
Trois Poemes D’Amour, Erik Satie
No. 1, Ne suis que grain de sable
No. 2, Suis chauve de naissance
No. 3, Ta parure est secrète
Guitares et mandolins, Gabriel Grovlez
