Search - Francois Couperin, Veronique Gens, Sandrine Piau :: Couperin - Leçons de ténèbres / Gens, Piau, Les talens lyriques, Rousset

Sublime music given a solid performance that falls short of

Ingrid Heyn | Melbourne, Australia | 11/27/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Veronique Gens and Sandrine Piau are two lovely singers. I own recordings of both of them which are lovely - Piau's Mozart arias is exquisite (better by several degrees than her more recent Handel arias recording, but that too has some fine things), and Gens' extensive recording repertoire from her Mozart to her Berlioz is regularly taken out of my CD shelves to be given another listen.



It was with the expectation of delight that I purchased this recording. To my astonishment, the performance failed to "shimmer", right from the start. It seemed pedestrian, walking where it should float. The blend of the two voices was... well, it wasn't bad, but it wasn't wonderful.



The fault is absolutely not that of the music. Couperin's lamentations are utterly, utterly beautiful. This SHOULD have been a truly gorgeous recording. Don't mistake me - it's not dreadful. The two sopranos, as I've said, are lovely on other recordings. I feel that perhaps they did not share the same vision of the works on this recording, so that they sometimes seem to be pulling away from each other rather than together. In the duet work, this is fatal...



Yet even in the solo portions of the works recorded here, I was not transported with delight. I think it may be at least partly due to the recording itself rather than the singers, but I do have a few quibbles with regard to the singing. Firstly - the Latin is not French Latin, as I've always considered it should be. Secondly, the ornamentation is inconsistent, and doesn't always follow the markings in the score. Thirdly, the tones of both sopranos seemed not to fall into the right sound for the Couperin works. I am at a loss to understand why - really, these two sopranos are so experienced in French baroque works that I fully expected them to have created a delicious performance.



I hovered between 3 and 4 stars for this. I suppose I am very much a person of "Yes, I love this" or "No, I loathe it" - my opinions are rarely tepid. Here, I am confused - because it SHOULD have been wonderful.



There are now quite a number of version of the Couperin "Leçons" available - there's the Kirkby/Nelson (white and bland), the Deller (avoid), the Jacobs/Chance (actually that's not bad! - but I truly think this work finds its apex of beauty sung by sopranos rather than countertenors), the Daniel Taylor/Robin Blaze (quite nice, but here even more than the Jacobs version, I felt the lack of soaring that one gets with two sopranos), and the version of all versions - sung by Patricia Petibon and Sophie Daneman. That version above all is beatiful beyond belief. If you only intend to have one recording of the Couperin "Leçons", I strongly recommend the Petibon/Daneman one, conducted by William Christie.



In fact, to truly understand why I so strongly recommend the alternative version, why not get both this and the Petibon/Daneman one? Listen to them one after the other - the comparison is astonishing.



"

Profoundly affecting

Ingrid Heyn | 10/30/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Among the few sacred works published during his lifetime, the settings of the Lamentations of Jeremiah for matins services of Holy Week are among Francois Couperin's most affecting. The austere beauty of these works, which consist of one or two soprano voices with continuo, is beautifully realized in this recording which is the best of currently available offerings. Sopranos Sandrine Piau and Veronique Gens contribute the right balance of sensuality,reverence, and vocal allure, while Christophe Rousset, organ, and Emmanuel Balssa, bass viol, provide admirable support, matching the singers in their attention to inflections of the text as well as to the contours of the music. A beautiful recording, highly recommended."