Poèmes: Sensual French Masterpieces

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Always a strong Francophile, she makes an inspired exploration for the still-developing French tradition...it is easy to hear what inspired [Dutilleux]...Her lower register has become ever-richer... — BBC Music Magazine, May 2012, 5 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 13th Feb 2012
Catalogue No: 4783500
Label: Decca
Length: 68 minutes

Presto Recording of the Week

20th February 2012
Grammy Awards

55th Awards (2012)

Best Classical Solo Vocal Album

Decca - Hi-Res Downloads at MP3 Prices

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Ravel: Shéhérazade

Work length18:46

$2.55

$3.45

Renée Fleming (soprano)
Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France
Alan Gilbert
Recorded: 2011-07-10
Recording Venue: L'Opéra National de France

1. Asie

Track length11:01

$0.85

$1.15

2. La flûte enchantée

Track length3:32

$0.85

$1.15

3. L'indifférent

Track length4:13

$0.85

$1.15

Messiaen: Poèmes pour Mi, books 1 & 2

Work length28:12

$7.65

$10.35

Renée Fleming (soprano)
Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France
Alan Gilbert
Recorded: 2011-07-10
Recording Venue: L'Opéra National de France

1. Action de grâces

Track length5:57

$0.85

$1.15

2. Paysage

Track length1:59

$0.85

$1.15

3. La maison

Track length1:54

$0.85

$1.15

4. Epouvante

Track length2:55

$0.85

$1.15

5. L'Epouse

Track length2:59

$0.85

$1.15

6. Ta voix

Track length3:15

$0.85

$1.15

7. Les deux guerriers

Track length1:39

$0.85

$1.15

8. Le collier

Track length4:24

$0.85

$1.15

9. Prière exaucée

Track length3:10

$0.85

$1.15

Dutilleux: Sonnets (2) by Jean Cassou

Work length7:48

$1.70

$2.30

Renée Fleming (soprano)
Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France
Alan Gilbert
Recorded: 2011-07-10
Recording Venue: L'Opéra National de France

Il n'y avait que des troncs dechirés...

Track length2:18

$0.85

$1.15

J'ai revé que je vous portais entre mes bras...

Track length5:30

$0.85

$1.15

Dutilleux: Le Temps l’horloge

Work length14:11

$4.25

$5.75

Renée Fleming (soprano)
Orchestre National de France
Seiji Ozawa
Recorded: 2009-05-07
Recording Venue: Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Paris

Le temps l'horloge

Track length1:41

$0.85

$1.15

Le masque

Track length4:24

$0.85

$1.15

Le dernier poème

Track length2:05

$0.85

$1.15

Interlude

Track length1:19

$0.85

$1.15

Envirez-vous

Track length4:42

$0.85

$1.15

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Favourites, Olivier Messiaen

David casts his ear over recordings of Messiaen, and picks out some particular gems.

Recording of the Week, Aleksandra Kurzak and Renée Fleming

20th February 2012

Up-and-coming Polish soprano Kurzak radiates ‘gioia’ in her debut solo album of operatic arias by Donizetti, Bellini, Puccini and others, whilst Fleming is on ravishing form in an all-French programme of orchestral song-cycles by Ravel, Messiaen and Dutilleux (the latter composed for her in 2007).

As the sensual centrepiece of an album of 20th century French vocal masterpieces, Renée Fleming makes her first-ever recording of Ravel’s ravishing Shéhérazade.

Complementing Shéhérazade is Olivier Messiaen’s collection of love songs to his young wife, the Poèmes pour Mi – a tour de force of voluptuous vocalism.

A trio of major works is completed by one written for Renée Fleming by the doyen of French composers, Henri Dutilleux – his dramatic Le Temps l’horloge.

The album is completed by two earlier songs by Dutilleux, specially-orchestrated for this album and recorded in the presence of the composer.

“In Shéhérazade , she revealed how marvelously her voice is maturing . . . Fleming seemed to lose both pretense and herself in Ravel’s erotic never-never land” (Los Angeles Times)

Reviews

May 2012

Always a strong Francophile, she makes an inspired exploration for the still-developing French tradition...it is easy to hear what inspired [Dutilleux]...Her lower register has become ever-richer toned, yet fluid, while higher up her silken soprano remains undiminished...Fleming is utterly ravishing in Ravel's Sheherazade, and her performance of Messiaen's Poemes pour Mi is sensational.

16th February 2012

[in the Ravel] she revels in the storytelling...her warm, voluptuous tones soaring ecstatically up into the most hedonistic climaxes, and carrying effortlessly over the orchestra even when in her softest lower-tessitura pianissimo....It’s the Dutilleux cycles that work best of all though, nodding as they do to all of Fleming’s vocal and expressive strengths...the vocal lines themselves playing to the warmth and elasticity of her upper register.

June 2012

The outstanding item in this French collection is the first recording of Dutilleux's Le temps l'horloge. The short cycle of four songs with interlude was composed with Renee Fleming's voice specifically in mind and she revels in its rapturous lyricism...Fleming's soprano soars and dips, hinting at great truth always just out of reach.

June 2012

Fleming is at her considerable best in [the Dutilleux], with her voice sounding rich and wonderfully flexible...the Dutilleux makes this an important release that will be an essential purchase for many French music enthusiasts

20th February 2012

the voluptuous Ravel songs (underpinned by some fantastically atmospheric orchestral playing) showcase smoky, almost mezzo-ish tints which I hadn’t heard from this singer before, and the powerhouse Messiaen songs are delivered without a hint of strain at either extreme of their large dynamic and tonal range.

11th March 2012

Given that Fleming celebrated 50 years in 2009...the state of her voice is cause for wonderment. The plush, peachy tone, her trademark, sounds unimpaired by the years...The American soprano justifiably revels in the sound of her own voice. If there have been more Gallic Shéhérazades on disc, none is more beautifully sung.

8th March 2012

Renée Fleming's latest album reminds us that we pigeonhole her at our peril...Her artistry...can be formidable: she makes Shéhérazade sound faintly indecent; Poèmes pour Mi taxes her a bit, but is suitably ecstatic. But it's in the Dutilleux that we find her at her considerable best. It's worth acquiring just for that.

9th March 2012

Fleming claims that singing in French suits her voice naturally, which is clear on this album...Her involvement with the intoxications of Ravel's Shéhérazade is obvious, the journey into this "forest filled with mystery" navigated with an enchantment little short of thrilling. Messiaen's Poèmes Pour Mi proves
the perfect partner for Shéhéraza

Classical Music 7th April 2012

Shéhérazade finds Fleming in seductive voice...Dutilleux provides an appealing series of soundworlds that suits the warm sumptuousness of her voice.

24th March 2012

Fleming’s immaculate French diction is an asset, and Dutilleux’s luminous orchestral colours gleam under Seiji Ozawa’s direction. No effect is overplayed...Good to see that a major label is still willing to promote high-quality, offbeat repertoire – snap this disc up before it gets deleted.

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Contents

Favourites, Olivier Messiaen

Recording of the Week, Aleksandra Kurzak and Renée Fleming

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