Karine Deshayes & Delphine Haidan (mezzo-sopranos)
Sisters
Orchestre national Avignon-Provence/Débora Waldman
rec. 2023, Avignon, France
No librettos and translations
NoMadMusic NMM118 [72]

This album is intended as a tribute to the sisters Maria Malibran (1808-1836) and Pauline Viardot (1821-1910), two of bel canto’s greatest mezzo-sopranos. The sisters’ father was the great Spanish tenor Manuel Garciá, who created the role of Count Almaviva in Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia. There are fourteen works on the album spanning some hundred years from Gluck’s Orphée et Eurydice (Orig. 1762 in French version of 1774) to Saint-Saëns El desdichado (1871). This programme is virtually the same as those concerts given in 2023 held at Opéra Grand Avignon and Philharmonie de Paris by mezzo-sopranos Karine Deshayes and Delphine Haidan with the Orchestre national Avignon-Provence under conductor Débora Waldman. 

In total there are eight different composers represented on the album. Five are male Rossini, Gluck, Berlioz, Bellini and Saint-Saëns, and alongside are five works written by three women Viardot, Bertin and Grandval. Ten are works sung in either Italian or French, and there are four orchestral-only works. Most arias here can be characterised by the term bel canto, of which Bellini and Rossini were two of the most famous exponents.

In the spotlight with four works is Rossini, generally regarded as the most important Italian 

composer in the first half of the nineteenth century. Rossini’s fame is largely based on his thirty-nine operas written between 1806-29. Opening this album is Rossini’s overture from Otello in addition to duets from his operas La donna del lago; Elisabetta, regina d’Inghilterra and Semiramide. 

From Rossini’s tragic melodrama Semiramide and making a considerable impression is the act two duet Giorno d’orror! Karine Deshayes sings the part of Babylonian queen Semiramide and Delphine Haidan has the trouser role of Arsace, the Assyrian army commander. They embrace each other as Semiramide discovers that Arsace is really her son. Deshayes and Haidan give a captivating performance overflowing with emotion. Although both are mezzo-sopranos each delightfully displays her individual timbre.

One of the highlights from Berlioz’s grand opera Les Troyens (1858) is the act two duo Les chants joyeux (The Joyful Songs). On festival day the siblings Didon, the Queen of Carthage, and her sister Anna are celebrating the prosperity and growth of their empire. Anna urges the widowed Didon to remarry as Carthage needs a King. Didon feels she should remain faithful to the memory of her late husband King Sychaeus, who was murdered. This duet is a real highlight with Deshayes and Haidan supplying a first-class performance that is generous and impassioned by turns.

Employing a boléro rhythm, Saint-Saëns scored his El desdichado (The unhappy man) for two voices and orchestra. Jules Barbier provided the French lyrics for a song written specifically for Viardot’s daughters to perform in 1871. In this popular Chanson Espagnole Deshayes and Haidan give a sunlit performance overflowing with charm with the two voices fluttering along together. 

Of the two mezzo-sopranos Karine Deshayes has a higher voice and excels as Elvira in her Act Two aria Qui la voce sua soave from Bellini’s English Civil War opera I Puritani (1835). This is the ‘mad scene’ where Elvira feels betrayed and abandoned by Arturo whom she loves. Deshayes sings splendidly, producing intense drama as Elvira is driven to insanity.  This ‘mad scene’ is one of Maria Callas’s most famous showpiece arias, an ideal vehicle for her extraordinary musical and dramatic command.

Compared to Deshayes, Delphine Haidan has a deeper tone and is splendidly suited to the Act Two aria Pourrais-je jamais aimer une autre femme? from Pauline Viardot’s two-act chamber opera Le dernier sorcier (The last sorcerer) completed in 1867. In this capricious fairytale, Haidan has the trouser role of the lovesick Prince Lelio excitedly waiting to use the power of invisibility of the magic flower to approach Stella, the daughter of the old sorcerer. Haidan’s confident and potent voice production and the clarity of her rich low register are both notable in this lovely aria. Le dernier sorcier deserves to be far better known.

I’m not too familiar with the Orchestre national Avignon-Provence who were founded as far back as the late 18th century. Under conductor Débora Waldman the orchestra provides high quality playing. Of the four orchestral-only works on the album, I especially enjoy Rossini’s overture to Otello and also hearing Louise Bertin’s Fausto overture for the first time. 

The sound quality has clarity with satisfying balance. My only concern is the lack of libretto and English translations; however, there is a helpful essay.

Deshayes and Haidan don’t disappoint here with this mix of popular and little-known works, This repertoire is very much to my taste and is a joy from beginning to end.

Michael Cookson

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Contents
Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868)
1. Otello overture
2. La Donna del Lago: Act 1, Vivere io non potrò
Karine Deshayes (Elena), Delphine Haidan (Malcolm)
Pauline Viardot (née Garcia) (1821-1910)
3. Le dernier sorcier, VWV 2002, Act 2, Pourrais-je jamais aimer une autre femme?
Delphine Haidan (Prince Lelio)
Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714-1787)
4. Orphée et Eurydice, Wq. 30. French version 1774. Act 1: Amour, viens rendre à mon âme
Karine Deshayes (Orphée)
Pauline Viardot (née Garcia) (1821-1910)
5. Les Monts de Géorgie (The Mountains of Georgia) VW1037. No. 2: Dans les plaines de Géorgie, Delphine Haidan
Hector Berlioz (1803-1869)
6. Les Troyens, H. 133, Act 3: Les chants joyeux (Didon, Anna)
Karine Deshayes (Didon), Delphine Haidan (Anna)
Louise Bertin (1805-1877)
7. Fausto overture
Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868)
8. Elisabetta, regina d’Inghilterra, Act 2: No. 8, Non bastan quelle lagrime 
Karine Deshayes (Elisabetta), Delphine Haidan (Matilde)
Vincenzo Bellini (1801-1835)
9. I puritani: Act 2, Scene 7: Qui la voce sua soave
Karine Deshayes (Elvíra)
Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714-1787)
10. Orphée et Eurydice, Wq. 30. French version 1774. Act 3, Scene 1: J’ai perdu mon Euridice 
Delphine Haidan (Orphée)
Marie Félicie Clémence de Reiset, aka Clémence de Grandval (1828–1907)
11. Mazeppa (1892), Act 2, Entr’acte. Le Jardin de Kotchoubey
12. Mazeppa (1892), Act 3, Divertissement No. 3, Danse Ukrainienne
Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868)
13. Semiramide. Act 2, Scene 7: Giorno d’orror
Karine Deshayes (Semiramide), Delphine Haidan (Arsace)
Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921)
14. El desdichado (The unhappy man) – Boléro
Karine Deshayes (higher part), Delphine Haidan (lower part)