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See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. | |  | Debussy Songs Volume 2
Two of Britain’s leading exponents of French song, the acclaimed sopranos Lorna Anderson and Lisa Milne, join Malcolm Martineau for the second volume of Hyperion’s overview of Debussy’s haunting, mercurial songs. The French composer’s output in this genre extended throughout his life and he was always inspired by poetry—from his first adolescent attempts to set Paul Verlaine’s Fêtes galantes (which he later revised) to the Trois Poèmes de Mallarmé, written five years before his death. All inhabit a universe of shifting colours and impressions, from the sensual, perfumed ‘flutes and flesh’ of the Chansons de Bilitis to the Proses lyriques, which foreshadow the dreamlike atmosphere of Pelléas et Mélisande. “The first thing to say that the performances by sopranos Lorna Anderson and Lisa Milne are consistently beautiful, alert to the implications of Debussy's word-setting, whether ecstatic or subdued...Martineau matches them in the subtlety, characterisation and refined textures of his piano-playing” Gramophone Magazine, June 2012 “Anderson and Milnes contrasting in approach. Anderson effortlessly glides through Debussy's limpid, lengthy phrases, while Milne's shivering sense of wonder is Melisande-like in its pent-up excitement. Milne's breathy approach to the sublime Ariettes oubliees has plenty of frisson about it” BBC Music Magazine, July 2012 **** | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Régine Crespin in Recital
The larger-than-life Régine Crespin, made only one song recital record for Decca, of music by Schumann, Wolf, Debussy and Poulenc. This is the first time the entire recital has been made available on CD. As her career progressed, Crespin became associated with certain roles – Kundry, Sieglinde, Brünnhilde, Tosca, the Marschallin – but she was prodigiously versatile, thanks to her years in the French provinces. An intelligent singer who understood how to make the texts count, Crespin also had tremendous success in non-operatic repertory. Her 1963 Decca recording, with conductor Ernest Ansermet, of Berlioz’s Les Nuits d'été and Ravel’s Shéhérazade, is regarded as among the best available. In its original French, her candid and entertaining autobiography is called La vie et l'amour d'une femme, which is also the French translation of Schumann's song cycle Frauenliebe und -leben. Indeed, Lieder by Schumann and Wolf were important parts of her recital repertory, and she brought the same depth of meaning to their German texts as she did to her Wagnerian roles. Of course French, being her native language, evoked a most immediate and intimate response from this singer. This release marks the launch of an Eloquence series of notable recitals of songs and opera arias by some of the great voices of Decca and Deutsche Grammophon. “Seven songs by Poulenc, in pungent and marvellously characterised performances, form the highlight of this 1967 recital of Crespin in her prime. Her Wolf and Schumann are also irresistable.” BBC Music Magazine, June 2012 **** “It is difficult, indeed I find it impossible, to think of any soprano capable of singing Brünnhilde, as Régine Crespin has done, who is also capable of making a success of such a varied programme as this recital offers, but this she most certainly has achieved from start to finish. […] She has in John Wustman a pianist truly worthy of her, sensitive to every mood and nuance. […] I can give no higher praise to Crespin's singing of Debussy's Chansons de Bililis than to say it does not suffer from comparison with Maggie Teyte's. […]The balance between voice and piano is very good, and so here is everything for our delight. This is, indeed, one of the finest song recitals of recent times and I most warmly and enthusiastically recommend it” Gramophone Magazine | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Barbara Hendricks: Debussy Melodies & J. Tourel tribute
Debussy: | Ariettes Oubliées (6) Fêtes galantes - Set 1 Cinq poèmes de Baudelaire Trois chansons de Bilitis | Dvorak: | Gypsy Melodies (7), Op. 55 (B104) | Liszt: | O quand je dors (Hugo), S282 Comment, disaient-ils (Hugo), S276 Mignons Lied (Kennst du das Land), S275 Über allen Gipfeln ist Ruh (Wandrers Nachtlied II), S.306 | Rachmaninov: | In the silence of the secret night, Op. 4 No. 3 How fair this spot, Op. 21 No. 7 Sing not, O lovely one (Ne poi, krasavitsa, pri mne), Op. 4 No. 4 Le joueur de flute, Op. 38, No. 4 Spring torrents, Op. 14 No.11 | Rossini: | La regata veneziana |
Barbara Hendricks' voice — particularly suited to Mozart, Debussy, Fauré, and the lighter roles of Puccini and Richard Strauss — has a warm, crystalline quality that has kept her in demand on stage and in recording studios. Her performances have embraced everything from contemporary music to popular standards, including songs of Duke Ellington and several world premieres. She has been careful with her choices of repertoire, avoiding roles that would overextend her essentially lyric instrument. Aside from music, she is deeply committed to humanitarian work, with a particular concern for refugees and those in war or poverty zones. She sang a concert in Sarajevo in 1993 while the city was being shelled, in which she had to wear a bulletproof vest and helmet. Hendricks has appeared on nearly 80 recordings spread over a variety of major labels. Her first of many recordings for EMI was in the small part of the Celestial Voice in Don Carlo in 1978. For nearly twenty years her solo recordings have been made exclusively for EMI Classics. “This pair of discs shows the impressive range of Hendricks's repertoire” BBC Music Magazine, December 2010 *** | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Lorraine Hunt Lieberson - Recital at Ravinia
Brahms: | Unbewegte laue Luft (No. 8 from Acht Lieder und Gesänge, Op. 57) Ruhe, Süßliebchen (No. 9 from Deutsche Volkslieder, WoO 33) Von ewiger Liebe, Op. 43 No. 1 | Burleigh, H T: | Deep River | Debussy: | Trois chansons de Bilitis | Handel: | La Lucrezia "O Numi eterni", Cantata HWV 145 Son nata a lagrimar (from Giulio Cesare) with Drew Minter | Mozart: | Dans un bois solitaire, K308 Als Luise die Briefe, K520 Abendempfindung an Laura, K523 Die ihr des unermeßlichen Weltfalls - Kantate, K619 | Telson: | Calling You |
Two years before she died, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson gave this recital focusing on the theme of ‘love’ at the Ravinia Festival in Illinois. In this live recording, she displays her own very special sense of drama in a programme ranging over several centuries and covering every facet of this universal emotion, accompanied by an eminent partner, the pianist Peter Serkin. “Peter Serkin brings special qualities to the Brahms group… while his delicacy in Debussy's Trois Chansons de Bilitis is magical. Lorraine Hunt Lieberson equals him in her musical insight and in her complete security of approach to her own instrument. Her huge potential range of dynamics allows her to shape each song individually, while her poised understating of Pierre Louÿ's Debussyan texts makes them infinitely suggestive.” BBC Music Magazine, March 2009 **** “Recorded at the Ravinia Festival two years before her death, this recital of ecstatic, grave and elegant love songs is a testament to the late Lorraine Hunt Lieberson’s interpretive intelligence...Hunt Lieberson’s intoxicating mezzo slides through several centuries of musical styles…” The Independent on Sunday, 22nd February 2009 “She truly was one of the great singers of our time… what we hear now reaffirms it. The performance of the Lucretia cantata alone would be sufficient. …Hunt Lieberson brings nobility to the full range of emotions and … an extraordinary sense of identifications with the suffering woman. The voice itself was a noble instrument: warm, full-bodied and seamless in its passage over the vocal registers.” Gramophone Magazine, July 2009 “This heart-rending recording commemorates one of the few truly great singers of
our time – the American mezzo-soprano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson who died from breast cancer in 2006 at the age of 52. Like Kathleen Ferrier, whose fate she shared, Hunt Lieberson's voice has a distinctive
viola-ish timbre which made it peculiarly suited to the expression of deep and melancholy emotion. In this overwhelmingly intense live recital, sensitively accompanied by Peter Serkin, she sings Brahms and
Mozart lieder, Handel's dramatic cantata Lucrezia, Debussy's Chansons de Bilitis, and an almost unbearably moving account of the spiritual Deep River. It's hard to listen without weeping.” The Telegraph, 7th April 2009 ***** “The American mezzo-soprano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson gave this recital two years before she died in 2006. It shows this revered artist at her ardent and emotional best. She always prized the spontaneity of live performance above all and this CD captures her vitality and warmth, and her audible rapport with an audience.” The Observer, 5th April 2009 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | The Color of the Word
This new disc on Bridge presents songs by some of the greatest masters of the art of setting poetry to music. With the exception of Purcell's songs, the repertoire heard here grows out of the 19th century German Romantic Lied tradition. Soprano Georgine Resick and pianist Warren Jones have collaborated on several discs for Bridge in the past and are known for their fascinating thematic programming. This recital follows in that tradition, showing unusual contrasts and similarities between diverse repertoire. | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Régine Crespin
Recorded: Geneva, September 1963; Kingsway Hall, May 1967 “Sumptuous of tone, supremely sensitive, Crespin was born to illuminate the art of French song. Whether floating the seductive allure of Ravel or revelling in the wit of Poulenc these recordings were and remain classics.” BBC Music Magazine, November 2006 ***** “Ravel's magically sensuous writing finds the ideal interpreter in Regine Crespin...The sheer richness of tone of the singer's tone does not prevent her from bringing out the delicate languor required by an exquisite song like The enchanted flute...This is ravishing...This CD is one of the great glories of recorded music.” Penguin Guide, 2011 edition | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Victoria de los Angeles sings Ravel, Debussy and Duparc
(Recorded 1962 & 1966) “A very beautiful and very enjoyable recital of French orchestral songs, sensitively accompanied. The coupling has this justly adored singer, in excellent form, in further songs by Ravel and Debussy with Soriano as the sympathetic piano accompanist.” Gramophone Magazine | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Nuit d'étoiles
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| |  | Horizontal and Vertical: Music for Flute & Organ
Ulf-Dieter Schaaff (flute), Frank Volke (organ) | | | Usually despatched in 8 - 10 working days. |
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| |  | Fête Galante
This recital includes songs by Fauré, Ravel, Debussy, Poulenc, Honneger and Vuillermoz and was first released in 1999. Karina Gauvin is Canada’s superstar soprano and impressed audiences and critics the world over with her luscious timbre, profound musicality and wide vocal range. “One of the many joys of this fine disc is the absolute refusal of either singer or accompanist either to wallow in sentiment or to indulge in wayward self-promotion. Karina Gauvin's voice is one of rare beauty, with a high register fully integrated with the middle...Not all virtuoso pianists can accompany sensitively, but Marc-André Hamelin is superb - technically impeccable and with a wide tonal range.” BBC Music Magazine, May 2011 ***** “Karina Gauvin is a remarkable Canadian soprano with a wonderfully fresh and firm voice. Francophone herself, she is ideally suited to sing this ambitious collection of French songs, perfectly supported by pianist Marc-Andre Hamelin...Altogether a most satisfying recital, not just superbly performed but very well recorded, if with the balance slightly favouring the singer.” Gramophone Magazine, July 2011 “If this disc is something of a calling-card...then it highlights on the part of the singer both an evident sympathy with this French repertoire and a sharp musical intelligence at work...hardly surprisingly, Marc-André Hamelin dispatches even the trickiest of all the accompaniments with ease, even nonchalance: this is luxury casting.” International Record Review, April 2011 | | | (also available to download from $10.50) | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. (Available now to download.) |
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