French Connections
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Jake Heggie, Francis Poulenc, Benjamin Britten, Lennox (Randall Francis) Berkeley
Genre:
Vocal
Label: Linn
Magazine Review Date: 01/2016
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 69
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: CKD477
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
(5) Poems |
Lennox (Randall Francis) Berkeley, Composer
John Mark Ainsley, Tenor Lennox (Randall Francis) Berkeley, Composer Malcolm Martineau, Piano |
Tel jour, telle nuit |
Francis Poulenc, Composer
Francis Poulenc, Composer John Mark Ainsley, Tenor Malcolm Martineau, Piano |
Fancy |
Francis Poulenc, Composer
Francis Poulenc, Composer John Mark Ainsley, Tenor Malcolm Martineau, Piano |
Fancie |
Benjamin Britten, Composer
Benjamin Britten, Composer John Mark Ainsley, Tenor Malcolm Martineau, Piano |
Friendly Persuasions |
Jake Heggie, Composer
Jake Heggie, Composer John Mark Ainsley, Tenor Malcolm Martineau, Piano |
Bleuet |
Francis Poulenc, Composer
Francis Poulenc, Composer John Mark Ainsley, Tenor Malcolm Martineau, Piano |
(The) Holy Sonnets of John Donne |
Benjamin Britten, Composer
Benjamin Britten, Composer John Mark Ainsley, Tenor Malcolm Martineau, Piano |
Author: Geoffrey Norris
Elsewhere the French connection is more secure, with Poulenc’s Paul Eluard settings in Tel jour telle nuit alongside Lennox Berkeley’s Five Poems of WH Auden – the link being more to do with Berkeley’s studies in Paris than with his choice of poet. Again, Ainsley is superb in finding and conveying the particular qualities that lend both Berkeley and Poulenc their musical identities. It’s also good to have on disc the set of four songs entitled Friendly Persuasions by the American composer Jake Heggie, of which Ainsley and Martineau gave the world premiere at the Wigmore Hall in 2008. This is a sort of ‘American in Paris’ tribute, with cameos of four French leading lights who were close to Poulenc – Wanda Landowska, Pierre Bernac, Raymonde Linossier and Eluard – all delivered here beguilingly.
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