Aubert; Fauré; Ravel Mélodies
Welcome and complementary releases of a superb but much overlooked mezzo
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Composer or Director: Maurice Ravel, Arthur Honegger, Gabriel Fauré, Claude Debussy
Label: INA Mémoire Vive
Magazine Review Date: 7/2003
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 77
Catalogue Number: IMV012
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Beau soir |
Claude Debussy, Composer
Claude Debussy, Composer Irma Kolassi, Mezzo soprano Marinette Gallay, Piano |
(Le) Promenoir des deux amants |
Claude Debussy, Composer
André Collard, Piano Claude Debussy, Composer Irma Kolassi, Mezzo soprano |
(3) Mélodies de Verlaine, Movement: Le son du cor |
Claude Debussy, Composer
Claude Debussy, Composer Irma Kolassi, Mezzo soprano Marinette Gallay, Piano |
Sainte |
Maurice Ravel, Composer
Irma Kolassi, Mezzo soprano Lily Bienvenu, Piano Maurice Ravel, Composer |
Manteau de fleurs |
Maurice Ravel, Composer
Irma Kolassi, Mezzo soprano Lily Bienvenu, Piano Maurice Ravel, Composer |
(3) Poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé |
Maurice Ravel, Composer
Instrumental Ensemble Irma Kolassi, Mezzo soprano Maurice Ravel, Composer |
(Les) Grands vents venus d'outre-mer |
Maurice Ravel, Composer
Irma Kolassi, Mezzo soprano Lily Bienvenu, Piano Maurice Ravel, Composer |
(La) Chanson d'Eve |
Gabriel Fauré, Composer
André Collard, Piano Gabriel Fauré, Composer Irma Kolassi, Mezzo soprano |
Mirages |
Gabriel Fauré, Composer
Gabriel Fauré, Composer Irma Kolassi, Mezzo soprano Lily Bienvenu, Piano |
(3) Psaumes |
Arthur Honegger, Composer
André Collard, Piano Arthur Honegger, Composer Irma Kolassi, Mezzo soprano |
(4) Chansons pour voix grave, Movement: La douceur de tes yeaux (wds Tchobanian) |
Arthur Honegger, Composer
André Collard, Piano Arthur Honegger, Composer Irma Kolassi, Mezzo soprano |
(4) Chansons pour voix grave, Movement: Derrière Murcie en fleurs (wds. Aguet) |
Arthur Honegger, Composer
André Collard, Piano Arthur Honegger, Composer Irma Kolassi, Mezzo soprano |
(4) Chansons pour voix grave, Movement: Un grand sommeil noir (wds. Verlaine) |
Arthur Honegger, Composer
André Collard, Piano Arthur Honegger, Composer Irma Kolassi, Mezzo soprano |
Composer or Director: Gabriel Fauré, Maurice Ravel, Darius Milhaud, Traditional, Louis (François Marie) Aubert
Genre:
Vocal
Label: Testament
Magazine Review Date: 7/2003
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 75
Mastering:
Mono
ADD
Catalogue Number: SBT1291
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
(La) Chanson d'Eve |
Gabriel Fauré, Composer
André Collard, Piano Gabriel Fauré, Composer Irma Kolassi, Mezzo soprano |
(3) Songs, Movement: Automne (wds. A. Silvestre: 1878) |
Gabriel Fauré, Composer
Gabriel Fauré, Composer Irma Kolassi, Mezzo soprano Jacqueline Bonneau, Piano |
(2) Songs, Movement: Soir (wds. A. Samain) |
Gabriel Fauré, Composer
Gabriel Fauré, Composer Irma Kolassi, Mezzo soprano Jacqueline Bonneau, Piano |
(5) Mélodies, Movement: No. 1, Mandoline |
Gabriel Fauré, Composer
Gabriel Fauré, Composer Irma Kolassi, Mezzo soprano Jacqueline Bonneau, Piano |
(5) Mélodies populaires grecques |
Maurice Ravel, Composer
Irma Kolassi, Mezzo soprano Jacqueline Bonneau, Piano Maurice Ravel, Composer |
(2) Greek Folk-songs |
Traditional, Composer
Irma Kolassi, Mezzo soprano Jacqueline Bonneau, Piano Traditional, Composer |
Poèmes Juifs |
Darius Milhaud, Composer
André Collard, Piano Darius Milhaud, Composer Irma Kolassi, Mezzo soprano |
(6) Poèmes arabes, Movement: Le visage Penché |
Louis (François Marie) Aubert, Composer
Irma Kolassi, Mezzo soprano Jacqueline Bonneau, Piano Louis (François Marie) Aubert, Composer |
(6) Poèmes arabes, Movement: Le Vaincu |
Louis (François Marie) Aubert, Composer
Irma Kolassi, Mezzo soprano Jacqueline Bonneau, Piano Louis (François Marie) Aubert, Composer |
Author: John Steane
She trained first as a pianist, then as a singer with a marked distaste for the vulgarities of style commonly called ‘operatic’. Above all, she was an excellent sight-reader who happened also to have a beautiful mezzo-soprano voice. The song recordings for Decca, heard now on Testament, were admired by discerning critics, such as Desmond Shawe-Taylor in the UK and Philip Miller in the US. She was associated with the Boulanger group in Rameau and Charpentier, and was a valued contributor to early performances of operas such as Oedipus Rex, The Fiery Angel and as Marie in the French première of Wozzeck. Later she became a noted teacher, and earlier in Athens had coached the young Mary Kalogeropoulou (aka Callas) in Fidelio.
The two discs here are complementary and not rivals. The French label INA (L’Institut National de l’Audiovisuel) draws its material from broadcasts, and the one item which the two collections have in common, Fauré’s Chanson d’Eve, is heard in different performances, the first (the studio recording on Testament) from 1953, the other 1959. I personally found the greater pleasure in the earlier recordings on Testament, but the INA disc has a wider repertoire and shows the singer in a stronger light, using a bigger range of dynamics and singing to a present or imagined audience, whereas the studio encouraged a more intimate approach. In Chanson d’Eve especially, the effect of this delicate, private monologue (in a world as yet unpopulated) is exquisite. The pianist, André Collard, must take a full share of the credit; this is a genuine duo, one of the most perfectly matched on record. In the broadcast, with consistently faster speeds and a more outgoing style, the spell (still potent) is less fine. The earlier version also impresses as recorded sound: comparing several others – Baker and Parsons, Ameling and Baldwin (last available on EMI, 4/92), Schmiege and Sulzen – I found none had the presence and immediacy of this from 1953.
INA has also the three Mirages songs, wonderful miniatures from Fauré’s old age and beautifully performed. Ravel’s Trois poèmes de Mallarmé (Schoenberg reconstituted as Beaumont) suffers slightly from a rather confined acoustic but is boldly and sensitively mastered. Possibly most memorable of all here are the three Psalm settings by Honegger, written in wartime with homage to Bach and an implicit plea for deliverance from Hitler. In the Testament programme, Milhaud’s Poèmes juifs are a less intense counterpart, but Ravel’s Cinq mélodies populaires grecques find the ideally equipped singer in Kolassi, Greek by birth, French by upbringing. The two additional Greek songs, incidentally, are unattributed in the booklet: the arrangers, I believe, are, respectively, one Sapthi and one Sfakianakis.
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