Ravel: Sur l'Herbe

“Ravel effected an understated formal revolution in vocal music, the pieces performed here by mezzo-soprano Nora Gubisch with pianist Alain Altinoglu being notable for their commitment to textual interpretation rather than sheer operatic grandeur.” The Independent, 18th August 2012 ***

“Not since the incomparable Régine Crespin...has a female French singer brought such insights and vocal allure to her native song repertoire as Nora Gubisch...Her voice remains youthful and bright, but capable of producing a wide spectrum of timbres for the very different demands of this challenging Ravel programme...The Kaddish can surely have never been more moving than it sounds on this fabulous disc.” Sunday Times, 26th August 2012

“It is a long, long time since anyone delved into Ravel’s songs as persuasively as Gubisch and her regular accompanist. The French mezzo-soprano has a full, voluptuous voice, but the key to her artistry lies in the idiomatic touch she brings to the music, based on her understanding of the texts and the difference it makes to the musical line...An outstanding recital.” Financial Times, 1st September 2012 *****

“One of the many attractions of this lovely disc is the exceptionally thoughtful booklet essay by Nina Vines … The recording is very fine and natural, with excellent balance … as fine a performance as I have ever heard … The individual songs are splendid” International Record Review, November 2012

“Altinoglu exploits the colours and textures with the utmost eloquence … Gubisch, with a vocal timbre of mellifluous beauty and well-focused richness, responds with the striking malleable spectrum of sensibility to the varied scenarios that Ravel encapsulates.” Gramophone Magazine, November 2012

“[Gubisch] combines a beautiful voice with intelligence, crisp diction and a real sense of style...I would guess she's lived with this music for a long time...this is a disc from which young and even less young singers can learn a great deal. 'Aoua!', the central song of the Chansons madecasses, is truly terrifying, as it ought to be.” BBC Music Magazine, Christmas 2012 *****

“After acclaimed recordings of Barber, Ives and Schumann, baritone Gerald Finley and pianist Julius Drake pull off another success with this disc of Ravel songs. These are for the most part works of cool restraint, with passion hidden beneath a jewelled surface, and Finley’s wonderfully flexible voice achieves maximum effect with minimal means.” The Telegraph, 10th June 2009 ****

“Finley sings with the art that conceals art — relishing but never overpointing the texts, and using a wide palette of dynamic and colour to underpin his musical insights. Other highlights are the inward-looking Ronsard à son âme, the passionate Les grands vents venus d’outremer and the lamenting Deux melodies hébraïques. A superb disc.” Sunday Times, 28th June 2009 ****

“Gerald Finley and Julius Drake's survey gathers all his major songs together. It's a beautiful disc that startles in ways you don't always expect.” The Guardian, 12th June 2009 ****

“It feels inadequate…just to describe this enchanting new collection from Gerald Finley and Julius Drake as the best modern recital devoted to the wonderfully varied world of Ravel's songs. Finley gives the melancholic affirmation of 'Kaddisch' its full weight of understated nobility, and is clearly having fun in the drinking song from Don Quichotte à Dulcinée.” BBC Music Magazine, July 2009 *****

“…the mood might be robust or rarefied, but Ravel's sense of colour and atmosphere is infallible. Drake draws the ear ineluctably into Ravel's imaginative world… Finley's mellifluous, malleable baritone is similarly an ideal match for this repertoire, with lines eloquently floated, nuances subtly voiced and character sensitively defined. This is a beguiling programme, beautifully performed.” Gramophone Magazine, August 2009

“There is a vast gulf between the bibulous bravado of the 'Chanson à boire' that Ravel included in his Don Quichotte à Dulcinée songs and the bleak, dark despair of his Verlaine setting Un Grand sommeil noir. Placing them next to one another in this fine selection of over two dozen songs emphasises the broad expressive range that Ravel was able to embrace. It also throws into focus the way that Gerald Finley and Julius Drake can so evocatively tap their emotional substance.
These exquisitely crafted miniatures, whether in the folk-inspired Chants populaires and Cinqmélodies populaires grecques or in the tender Noëlsdes jouets to a text of Ravel's own, show his creative fastidiousness in a consistently positive light: the mood might be robust or rarefied, but Ravel's sense of colour and atmosphere is infallible.
The imagery of the Histoires naturelles, for example, testifies to Ravel's intuitive response to poetry and to his precise placing of the tonal brushstrokes. In this respect, the piano is an essential collaborator, etching in the background for the gliding grace of the swan or the chirping of the cricket.
Drake draws the ear ineluctably into Ravel's imaginative world, as he does elsewhere in the cool restraint of Ronsard à son âme or the turbulence and shifting currents of Les Grands Ventsvenus d'outremer. Finley's mellifluous, malleable baritone is similarly an ideal match for this repertoire, with lines eloquently floated, nuances subtly voiced and character sensitively defined.
This is a beguiling programme, beautifully performed.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“Souzay should...rank as one of the most elegant and sensitive song interpreters on record, as this collection of music by Fauré, Ravel, Poulenc and Duparc (among others) demonstrates. Poulenc’s Priez pour paix and Hahn’s L’Heure exquise show him at his exquisite best.” Sunday Telegraph, 4th July 2010 *****