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See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. | |  | La Romance françaiseIf my poems had wings like birds
This CD features a particular type of French song. All the "romances" were written after 1830 and include songs by Gounod, Bizet, Massenet, Fauré, Hahn and Poulenc. The Belgian bass-baritone Werner van Mechelen is a highly versatile artist and is particularly drawn to the lied genre. | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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| |  | Susan Graham - French SongsRecorded at Verbier Festival, July 2009
This series of TV programmes presents the very best of the 16th Verbier Festival with worldwide renowned artists such as Susan Graham, Martha Argerich, Yuri Temirkanov, Stephen Kovacevich, and Philippe Jaroussky. Together with Malcolm Martineau on the piano, the Grammy Award-winning mezzo-soprano Susan Graham features a fascinating compilation of well-known French composers. Both have also toured with the program - comprising nearly two dozen songs by as many composers - to great acclaim. The recital Graham and Martineau gave this past summer at the Verbier Festival in French-speaking Switzerland brought down the house. Being Musical America’s 2004 Vocalist of the year, Graham is well-known as an expert in French melodies. The genre is known as a very tricky one, but she presents the songs with a fascinating jewel-like clarity and gleaming tone. Martineau is the perfect counter-part who adds some finely judged French seasoning. Picture format DVD: NTSC 16:9 Sounds formats DVD: PCM Stereo, DD 5.1, DTS 5.1 Region code: 0 Booklet notes: English, German, French Running time: 60 min FSK: 0 “An hour of pure delight...Graham is utterly at home in this repertoire an performs it with élan...Martineau is the perfect partner throughout, perfectly jusging depth of tone, moving as one with Graham and displaying the same level of control...with a gentle smile, Hahn's sublime 'À Chloris' surpasses all that has come before.” BBC Music Magazine, Christmas 2010 *****  BBC Music Magazine
DVD Choice - December 2010 |
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| |  | Un Frisson Français - A century of French song
Undoubtedly ONYX’s highlight of the year is the first recital disc for 5 years by the great American mezzo Susan Graham. Beloved by audiences the world over, this outstanding recording is sure to be much in demand worldwide. The unique programme provides a celebration of French song in an unusual way – instead of groups of songs by several composers Susan has opted for a single song by 22 different composers from Bizet to Poulenc. This is the programme she and Malcolm Martineau her regular accompanist took on tour in the USA and Europe in 2007/2008. Reviews were unanimous “confirms Susan Graham as the ideal package she is” (Music Web) “resistance is futile” (New York Times); superb, exquisite (Chicago Tribune) Susan Graham is particularly at home in French repertoire, one of the few non-French singers recognised by the French themselves when they made her a Commandeur dans L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. Susan refutes the idea that all French vocal music sounds the same: "This programme has everything: loud, soft, high, low, fast, slow, romantic, acidic." Includes some surprises- Saint-Saëns’ Danse Macabre for example, known by everyone as a orchestral showpiece but in fact first written as a song, but hardly ever performed as such; and some favourites such as Hahn’s À Chloris and Canteloube’s Brezairola, but far more discoveries such as the gorgeous Psyché by Paladilhe and Bachelet’s ecstatic Chère Nuit. “With Susan Graham in radiant form and Malcolm Martineau not just an accompanist but an active partner in the project, "Un frisson français" offers a unique survey of French mélodie from the mid-19th century to the mid-20th: 22 songs… one composer. A rich collection in excellent sound: no one is likely to be disappointed.” Gramophone Magazine, November 2008 “The familiar here appears in unusual contexts and alongside a scattering of rarities. The performers are at one in their fluency, delicate rubato and avoidance of Anglo-Saxon archness, within an acoustic that combines intimacy and atmosphere.” BBC Music Magazine, November 2008 ***** “With Susan Graham in radiant form and Malcolm Martineau not just an accompanist but an active partner in the project, 'Un frisson français' offers a unique survey of French mélodie from the mid–19th century to the mid–20th: 22 songs…one per composer.
Martineau describes the plan as a 'tasting menu', starting with Gounod, to whom he ascribes the launching of the genre of French mélodie. Even Ravel said that Gounod was 'the true founder of the mélodie in France' and his song 'Au rossignol' ('To the Nightingale') is included in the first of five sections – 'founding fathers', including Bizet, Franck, Lalo and Saint–Saëns. It is fascinating to hear the original version with piano of 'Danse macabre', Graham marvellously biting.
Martineau describes the sequence as 'loosely chronological', and one beauty of the scheme is that rare and forgotten composers are included, such as Paladilhe and Bachelet who are represented in late–Romantic mélodies with night and nature dominating themes. The third group – including Ravel and Debussy – takes us into the 20th century. Especially fascinating is André Caplet's setting of 'Le corbeau et le renard' ('The Crow and the Fox') with elaborate piano accompaniment.
Only rare songs are chosen for each composer and perhaps Martineau chose some of them for the colourful accompaniments, as in Chausson's fluttering accompaniment for his picture of the butterfly in 'Le papillon'. The fourth section has childhood as a common theme and the climactic section has only one song, much the longest, Poulenc's 'La dame de Monte-Carlo', to words by Jean Cocteau. It is like an encapsulated version of the operatic monodrama La voix humaine with the singer on the verge of a breakdown.
A rich collection in excellent sound: no one is likely to be disappointed.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 | | | Usually despatched in 3 - 4 working days. |
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| |  | Clair de LuneFrench Songs
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| |  | In Love with Love
Vinson Cole (tenor), Patrick Stephens (piano) | | | (also available to download from $10.50) | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. (Available now to download.) |
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| |  | Georges Bizet: Mélodies
Yvi Jänicke (soprano) & Thomas Hans (piano) | | | Usually despatched in 3 - 4 working days. |
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| |  | Mélodies Françaises
Bizet: | Chanson d'Avril | Chabrier: | Les Cigales Chanson pour Jeanne | Duparc: | L'Invitation au voyage Sérénade Florentine La Vague et la Cloche Extase Le Manoir de Rosemonde La Vie antérieure Lamento Testament Phidylé Chanson triste Soupir | Fauré: | Chanson du pêcheur Op. 4 No. 1 Poème d'un jour Op. 21 Les berceaux, Op. 23 No. 1 Le secret Op. 23 No. 3 Aurore, Op. 39 No. 1 Fleur jetée, Op. 39 No. 2 La rose Op. 51 No. 4 Madrigal Op. 35 Cinq Melodies 'de Venise', Op. 58 La Bonne Chanson, Op. 61 Le parfum impérissable Op. 76 No. 1 Arpège, Op. 76 No. 2 (Samain) Prison, Op. 83 No. 1 Soir Op. 83 No. 2 Dans la forêt de septembre Op. 85 No. 1 La fleur qui va sur l'eau Op. 85 No. 2 Le don silencieux Op. 92 La chanson d'Ève, Op. 95 Le jardin clos Op. 106 L'horizon chimérique, Op. 118 | Franck, C: | Nocturne | Gounod: | L'Absent Sérénade | Hahn, R: | L'heure exquise | Leguerney: | Poèmes de la Pléiade | Poulenc: | Chansons villageoises Calligrammes La Travail du peintre La Fraîcheur et le feu Airs chanté No. 4 La grenouillère, Op. 5 Metamorphoses : Reine des mouettes Priez pour paix | Ravel: | Cinq mélodies populaires grecques Trois chansons madécasses Deux mélodies hébraïques Don Quichotte à Dulcinée Les grands vents venus d'outre-mer Sainte Sur l'Herbe | Roussel: | Le Jardin Mouillé Le Bachelier de Salamanque |
“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 ***** | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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| |  | Marilyn Horne - The Complete Decca Recitals
Bach, J S: | Magnificat in D major, BWV243: Et exsultavit Magnificat in D major, BWV243: Esurientes implevit bonis Christmas Oratorio, BWV248: Schlafe, mein Liebster St Matthew Passion, BWV244: Erbarme dich Bist du bei mir, BWV508 | Beethoven: | Abscheulicher! Wo eilst du hin? (from Fidelio) | Bellini: | Lieto del dolce incarco…Se Romeo t'uccise un figlio (from I Capuleti e i Montecchi) | Bizet: | L'amour est un oiseau rebelle 'Habanera' (from Carmen) Près des remparts de Séville (Séguedille) (from Carmen) Adieux de l'hotesse Arabe Chanson d'Avril Vieille chanson Absence | Copland: | Old American Songs: excerpts | Debussy: | Trois chansons de Bilitis | Donizetti: | Deciso è dunque...le richezze (from La Figlia del Reggimento) | Falla: | Siete Canciones populares españolas | Gluck: | J'ai perdu mon Eurydice (from Orphée et Eurydice) Divinités du Styx (from Alceste) | Gounod: | Ô ma lyre immortelle (from Sapho) | Handel: | Messiah: O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion Messiah: I know that my Redeemer liveth Scacciata dal suo nido (from Rodelina) Dove sei, amato bene? (from Rodelinda) Vivi, tiranno, io t'ho scampato (from Rodelinda) | Mahler: | Rückert-Lieder (5 songs, complete) Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (4 songs, complete) Kindertotenlieder | Massenet: | Ces lettres! (from Werther) Va! Laisse couler mes larmes (from Werther) | Meyerbeer: | Ah, mon fils! (from Le Prophète) O prêtres de Baal (from Le Prophète) Nobles seigneurs, salut! (from Les Huguenots) | Mozart: | Parto, parto, ma tu ben mio (from La Clemenza di Tito) | Nin: | Villancico Castellano (from Villancicos Españolas) Jesus de Nazareth (from Villancicos Españolas) Villancico Asturiano (from Villancicos Españolas) Villancico Andaluz (from Villancicos Españolas) | Rossini: | Una voce poco fa (from Il barbiere di Siviglia) Assisa a' piè d'un salice (from Otello) Di tanti palpiti (from Tancredi) Bel raggio lusinghier (from Semiramide) Pronti abbiamo...Amici in ogni evento...Pensa alla patria (from L'Italiana in Algeri) Eccomi alfine in Babilonia (from Semiramide) Cruda sorte! Amor tiranno! (from L'Italiana in Algeri) Nacqui all'affanno, al pianto...Non più mesta (from La Cenerentola) L'ora fatal s'appressa ... Giusto ciel! (from L'Assedio di Corinto) Mura felici (from La donna del lago) Tanti affetti in tal momento (from La donna del lago) Non temer, d' un basso affetto (from Maometto II) | Saint-Saëns: | Printemps qui commence (from Samson et Dalila) Mon cœur s'ouvre à ta voix (from Samson et Dalila) | Schubert: | Im Frühling, D882 Nacht und Träume, D827 Die junge Nonne, D828 Fischerweise, D881 (Schlechta) | Schumann: | Die Lotosblume, Op. 25 No. 7 Aus den hebräischen Gesängen, Op. 25 No. 15 Die Kartenlegerin, Op. 31 No. 2 Abendlied, Op. 85 No. 12 | Strauss, R: | Schön sind, doch kalt die Himmelssterne, Op. 19, No. 3 Für fünfzehn Pfennige Op. 36 No. 2 Befreit, Op. 39 No. 4 | Thomas, Ambroise: | Connais-tu le pays (from Mignon) Me voici dans son boudoir 'Gavotte' (from Mignon) Elle est là! Près de lui! (from Mignon) | Verdi: | Stride la vampa (from Il Trovatore) Condotta ell’era in ceppi (from Il Trovatore) | Wagner: | Wesendonck-Lieder (5) | Wolf, H: | Auf einer Wanderung (No. 15 from Mörike-Lieder) Der Genesene an die Hoffnung (No. 1 from Mörike-Lieder) Mein Liebster hat zu Tische mich geladen (No. 25 from Italienisches Liederbuch) |
and traditional American folk songs
The great American mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne celebrated her her 70th birthday in January 2004 and that year also marked 50 years since her professional debut. Horne’s debut in 1954 was in in Los Angeles. That same year her name and voice was brought to many more people than could ever hear her in the opera house through the 1954 film Carmen Jones in which she sang the dubbed voice of Dorothy Dandridge. Her Covent Garden debut was as Marie in Wozzeck (sung in English at that time) in 1964 – she had made her San Francisco debut in 1960 with the same role. It was with Joan Sutherland that Marilyn Horne found the perfect vocal partner and their performances in the great bel canto operas by Rossini, Bellini and Donizetti took the opera world by storm in the 1960s and early 1970s. By the time she retired in 1998, Marilyn Horne’s long and distinguished career embraced an enormous variety of operatic roles, as well as a wide variety of solo song ranging from Schubert, Schumann and Mahler through to modern American songs. Such a wide repertory was due to the sheer range of her voice and its remarkable flexibility, a voice that could sustain long lines of melody as well as negotiate the most florid vocal pyrotechnics. Marilyn Horne participated in a number of complete opera recordings (among them classic recordings of Norma and Semiramide with Joan Sutherland) for Decca and also made ten recital programmes. The complete recitals are now reissued in their entirety as a Collector Edition on 11 CDs and preserve the original sequence of music as presented on vinyl; the original LP cover art is reproduced for the CD sleeves. “When every single item brings wonderment it is impossible to single out one above the rest, and the recording is outstandingly vivid...her Rossini recital is one of the most cherishable among all Rossini records ever issued. The voice is in glorious condition, rich and firm throughout its spectacular range, and is consistently used with artistry and imagination, as well as brilliant virtuosity in coloratura. By any reckoning, this is thrilling singing.” Penguin Guide, 2011 edition | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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BBC Music Magazine Awards 2009
