Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)
The Complete Songs of Ravel
Lorna Anderson (soprano), Julie Boulianne (mezzo-soprano), John Chest (baritone), Sarah Dufresne (soprano), Dafydd Jones (tenor), Simon Keenlyside (baritone), Paula Murrihy (soprano), Nicky Spence (tenor), William Thomas (bass)
Anna Stokes (flute), Julian Bliss (clarinet), Matt Glendening (clarinet), Cara Berridge (cello), Sacconi Quartet
Malcolm Martineau (piano)
rec. 2018-24, various locations
Signum Classics SIGCD870 [2 CDs: 133]
People of a certain vintage may have been introduced to Maurice Ravel’s songs by way of Gérard Souzay and Janet Baker. Neither of them issued a complete edition, but interested listeners could gain a great introduction to this varied repertoire. Until this new release, my go-to version was that issued by EMI Classics in 1984 (5 69299 2). The star-studded cast included Felicity Lott, Teresa Berganza and Jessie Norman. Dalton Baldwin played the piano.
Many years ago, Norman Demuth’s remarkable study of Ravel helped me discover a good hermeneutic for appreciating his vocal music. Demuth suggested a division into three distinct categories: the chansons or mélodies, art songs for voice and piano; settings of found tunes where Ravel provided the piano accompaniment; and a few elaborate pieces for voices and instruments.
The largely chronological order on the two discs makes for an interesting exploration of this repertoire. I will discuss what I consider the highlights, with some thoughts about one or two numbers that do not work, at least for me.
Ravel’s best-known song cycle, Shéhérazade, takes inspiration from the Tales of the Arabian Nights. The three numbers conjure up the exotic, mysterious and sensual qualities of the stories. Ravel has infused them with impressionistic harmonies; the flexible vocal line points up the evocative lyrics devised by Tristan Klingsor. Asie looks at the wonders of the orient. La flûte enchantée majors on a woman who listens to her lover playing the flute. In L’indifferent, the female singer attempts to gain the interest of a young stranger only to discover that he is gay. The performance here is pure magic. Paula Murrihy and Malcolm Martineau capture every nuance of the imaginative and highly charged texts, and let us not forget Lisa Friend’s evocative flute playing.
The Histoires naturelles caused a considerable scandal at the first performance. It was just not what the audience were expecting. The setting of animal poems by Jules Renard are complimented by Ravel’s “biting humour and sarcasm”. The cycle explores The Peacock, The Cricket, The Swan, The Kingfisher and The Guinea-hen. The vocal technique is typically declamation or conversational speech rather than conventional singing. The demanding piano part has various onomatopoeic figurations such as the chirruping of the cricket and hints of Olivier Messiaen evoking the kingfisher. Baritone Simon Keenlyside gives a stunning performance of Ravel’s most important offering.
Now the folk song settings. The Cinq mélodies populaires grecques were based on anonymous texts which Michel Dimitri Calvocoressi translated from the Greek into French. Ravel combines simplicity with elegance, preserving the folk character through modal melodies, and creating redolent textures. The album includes the posthumously discovered sixth Greek folksong, Tripatos (three steps).
In the Chants populaires, Ravel set Spanish, French, Italian, Hebrew, Scottish texts. For this Scot, the favourite is Rabbie Burns’s Ye Banks and Braes! Magically, Ravel has caught the traditions and regional characteristics of these songs, while he applied his distinctive modernist touch.
The first of Deux mélodies hébraïques seems to be like a liturgical chant rather than a song. The second enjoys a rhythmic ostinato in the piano, but is spoilt by a vocal line with too many tra-la-las.
The Chansons madécasses were a commission from the American philanthropist and patron of the arts, Elizabeth Spraque Coolidge. They include flute, cello and piano accompaniments, as she stipulated. The texts were translations of original Madagascan verse. These tropical songs evoke tender love music, an aggressive war chant which caused a near riot at its premiere, and a sultry vesperal. Julie Boulianne’s performance reflects Ravel’s outstanding lyrical imagination.
Stéphane Mallarmé (1842–1898) was a French Symbolist poet whose works profoundly influenced modern literature and art. Known for his intricate, evocative language, Mallarmé explored themes of beauty, mystery and the abstract. His innovative poem L’Après-midi d’un faune inspired Claude Debussy’s early masterpiece. Ravel dedicated his Trois poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé to Igor Stravinsky, Florent Schmitt and Erik Satie, respectively.
The poems are not straightforward in French or in English translation. The liner notes explain that Soupir is a “melancholy poem about autumn”. Placet futile “portrays a lovelorn abbot, who regrets that he will never appear naked on a Sèvres teacup and will never become the princess’s lapdog, let alone her lover”. Surgi de la croupe et du bond is a strange meditation on an empty vase that will never contain flowers. Enigmatic these songs may be, but one cannot doubt the sheer beauty of Ravel’s setting. Mallarme’s elusive imagery is matched with innovative harmonies and flowing vocal lines. Julie Boulianne and the chamber musicians create an ethereal, otherworldly atmosphere.
The last three songs on this album were also Ravel’s final major composition. Don Quichotte à Dulcinée was originally slated to have been included in a commission for a score for a film which would explore Don Quixote’s life. They were to have been sung by the legendary bass Fyodor Chaliapin. Sadly, Ravel did not submit them in time and was denied payment. The film company used the services of Jacques Ibert.
Ravel’s songs present a different facet of Cervantes’s knight’s character. Off-beat rhythms and a guitar-like accompaniment infuse the Chanson romanesque. The following Chanson épique – with its austere nods to modal melodies and organ-like harmonies – may reflect Don Quixote’s chivalric commitment. Finally, the more down-to-earth Chanson à boire displays strong cross-rhythms and hints at the jota, a Spanish courtship dance revealing the mortal desires of drink and sex. The cycle makes a fitting close to Ravel’s career.
Other mélodies that caught my ear include the early Sainte with its extensive use of seventh and ninth chords, the rhythmically diverse Epigrammes de Clément Marot and the late and valedictory Rêves. Finally, there is an excellent account of Vocalise-étude en forme de habanera, full of Spanish – by way of Cuba – sunshine and anguish.
Interestingly, the new recording does not include the once popular Fascination written for Paulette Darty. There has been debate as to whether Ravel or Fermo Dante Marchetti penned this number. But it would have been fun to have included it here.
Richard Stokes’s liner notes offer sufficient detail to appreciate these varied songs. The texts are given alongside a parallel English translation. There are resumés of the singers and pianist. The cover for this 150th anniversary release is boring.
It would be invidious to pick out the best performance from this bumper roster of artists. The palm must, however, go to the pianist Malcolm Martineau, who is busy for most of this album. It was a brilliant idea to employ such a wide range of talent, rather than just rely on one or two singers. Everyone bring their considerable talents to this repertoire, which is characterised by, as David Cox once wrote, “clarity, fastidiousness, wit, harmonic richness, and melodic subtlety”.
John France
Contents
Ballade de la reine morte d’aimer (c.1894)
Un grand sommeil noir (1895)
Sainte (1896)
Epigrammes de Clément Marot (1896-1899)
Chanson du rouet (1898)
Si morne! (1898)
Manteau de fleurs (1903)
Shéhérazade (1903)
5 Mélodies populaires grecques (1904-1906)
Noël des jouets (1905)
Histoires naturelles (1906)
Vocalise-étude en forme de habanera (1907)
Les grands vents venus d’outre-mer (1906)
Sur l’herbe (1907)
Tripatos (1909)
Chants populaires (1909-1910)
3 Poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé (1913)
2 Mélodies hébraïques (1914)
Trois chansons (1914-1915)
Ronsard à son âme (1924)
Chansons madécasses (1925-1926)
Rêves (1927)
Don Quichotte à Dulcinée (1932-1933)
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