Search - Ernest Chausson, Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel :: Poèmes de l'Amour

A Thousand and One Nights with Susan Graham

Terry Serres | Minneapolis, MN United States | 05/11/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"First off, let me declare that I am in thrall to Susan Graham's voice -- it is one of the most beautiful of our age, a rich sound that the singer deploys with sensitivity and intelligence and admirable technique. Sheer beauty -- feminine, alluring, caressing, velvety but clear-textured. That coupled with her immaculate French and communicative style make her all but infallible in my book. If I give this recording less than five stars, it may because I am less in sympathy with the lush romanticism of the material. However, I do have a couple of observations about the performances.



On this recording, Graham does a stellar job of illuminating the emotions of the songs almost purely through vocal coloring rather than by characterization. For the Chausson (Poème de l'amour et de la mer), I will say that approach is 100 percent successful. It has to be one of the supreme performances of this vocal tone poem ever captured on disc. Her passion and heartbreak are thrilling.



However, for the Ravel (especially the second and third songs) and for the Debussy, I wish Graham had been a shade more assertive in her interpretations. I think the first song of Shéhérazade can succeed as a swooning travelogue on the high seas -- very much along the same lines as the Chausson -- but the last stanza is a return to more personal story-telling, which should be sustained through the second and third songs. This is a lovely performance, no doubt about it, but Graham's instrument is one of such innate beauty that she can well afford to let her hair down, interpretively, a little more. I would make the same suggestion for the Debussy.



The orchestra, especially in the Chausson, is exemplary. For all the sweeping romanticism, the orchestra shows great subtlety in bringing out the rhythms, dynamics, and intrumental lines. I only wished for a slight bit of rubato at the beginning of the finale of the Chausson (the song "Le temps des lilas" that ends the last movement) -- but in French music understatement is seldom to be discouraged. Following Chausson's Wagnerian drama immediately with the rapturous Shéhérazade, however, was not to advantage. Agreed, ending with the Debussy was advisable, but a palette cleanser is definitely needed between the Chausson and Ravel and the disc length allows for an additional fifteen minutes of music. If nothing else, an instrumental work could have been inserted here -- or a vocalise or two!



Graham's vocal production is well-nigh perfect. She neither hides behind the orchestra nor rides it -- the balance is perfectly judged and natural-sounding. Her facility in French means that you have none of those jarring moments that infect the performances of some other non-native singers. My only complaint in terms of her vocalism is that too often Graham attacks her high, climactic notes just under the proper dynamic and swells. It isn't unattractive, but on repetition it did become distracting -- especially the word "haine" ("hatred") at the climax of Asie, which should be attacked head-on.



The unusual coupling with Debussy -- four of the five Poèmes de Charles Baudelaire -- is most welcome. These orchestrations by John Adams are effective, especially the last song (Recueillement). However, they would have worked even better if the orchestrations had less Chausson and Ravel and more Debussy. I also wonder if scoring for a smaller chamber ensemble might have allowed more of that Debussyan quality of limpid mystery. But my quibbles are infinitessimal and I think these orchestrations will be welcome additions to the repertory.



Make no mistake -- this is a fabulous record! One can bathe in its lushness for a good hour without tiring of Graham's voice, and come back for more! My reservations are matters of my personal taste in art song performance, and even by those standards the room for improvement is slender."

For the Sheer Luxury of Beauty of Voice and Technique!

Grady Harp | Los Angeles, CA United States | 03/30/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Susan Graham continues to grow as an artist, both in her inimitable operatic performances but especially in her warmly human and bracingly communicative recitals with piano collaboration. With this very beautiful recording of songs cycles by Chausson, Ravel and Debussy she combines the two - operatic and recital - and the result is some of the most stunning collaborations with voice and orchestra on CD today. Gush? Well, just listen to this well-conceived disc and try to escape the trance of enchantment.



The Chausson 'Poeme de l'amour et de la mer' is a series of heavily orchestrated songs whose protagonist is a young man who meets and falls in love with a girl and returns a year later to discover the girl no longer is moved by him - not unlike the doubt, lust, longing and memory of Resnais' film 'Last Year at Marienbad'. Graham communicates the longing and ecstasy and ultimate devastation of the young man with intense feeling and gorgeous rich sound. Yan Pascal Tortelier conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra with sonorous swells of sound that never bury the voice and never completely give in to the excesses in Chausson's writing.



Best known of the works on this recording is the 'Sheherazade ' of Maurice Ravel. Here, moving among the three songs well known to every concertgoer, Graham demonstrates her seamless range of tone and color: though a mezzo-soprano by range she transports her gorgeous instrument into the realm of soprano with complete ease. Her French diction is perfect and she makes the poems come alive. If this reading does not erase all memories of such singers as Regine Crespin or Victoria de los Angeles as far as breathy French sensuousness, the uncanny beauty of her sound and her immersion in the texts creates a new standard. 'La Flute enchantee' is from another place of rarefied air!



The Debussy songs 'Le Livre de Baudelaire' are here performed with a new orchestration by contemporary composer John Adams! And if you fear that may be an incongruous pairing then fear not. The orchestral writing is in total sync with Debussy's haunting line. Graham again delivers lush, creamy tone with a true 'French sound'. It simply works.



Apart from the beauty of Susan Graham's artistry and Tortelier's sensitive collaboration the major contribution of this recording is in the thoughtful programming - three cycles by three French composers whose lives overlapped. This is the degree of challenging and rewarding ventures that will maintain the importance of classical music recordings. Highly Recommended. Grady Harp, March 05"

A Superb Graham Enwrapped in Unwavering Romanticism

Ed Uyeshima | San Francisco, CA USA | 04/23/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Mezzo-soprano Susan Graham gave an impressive performance last year as Dido, capturing the woman behind the mythical figure with measured fervor, among a heady group of singers on last year's superb ensemble recording of Emmanuelle Haïm's production of Purcell's "Dido and Aeneas". In this solo outing, she displays the same dramatic acumen and showcases her lustrous voice with a full-bodied French repertoire which features selections from Chausson, Ravel and Debussy. The result certainly reflects the same exclusive talent pool as the recent stellar recordings of French compositions by rising tenor Rolando Villazón on his "Gounod/Massenet Arias" and the exquisite countertenor David Daniels on his "Berlioz: Les Nuits d'Été".



Where Graham falls somewhat short among this league is in the relative sameness of the program, which reflects a conscious decision to explore the more serious Belle Epoque fare for soprano and orchestra. Granted all three song cycles are lovely and sonorous, but together the variety seems lacking for a singer of Graham's caliber, and one ends up missing a lighter touch to offset the somber tone. Things start promisingly with Ernest Chausson's "Poèmes de l'amour et de la mer", a luscious work that evokes an engaging seductive power over a wide range of emotions. It also includes a soaring dream-like interlude. Maurice Ravel's "Shéhérazade," is performed colorfully with a swooning sense of epic melodrama that wouldn't sound out of place in a 1950's Douglas Sirk movie. John Adams contributed the hushed orchestrations for four of Claude Debussy's set of "Cinq Poèmes de Charles Baudelaire" presented here, all performed languorously with a discernible sense of longing. One or two lighter chansons could have lightened this program considerably, and they would have been welcome. Also, at certain moments, the sound feels heavily overproduced. Regardless, Graham is among the finest singers today and always a treat to hear and appreciate and she is supported in a most atmospheric fashion by the BBC Symphony Orchestra led by conductor Yan Pascal Tortelier."