Gloria Campaner HOME

"In a way this album tells a story of my life, my dreams, my childhood scenes set in the Venetian inlands where I was born and grew up.  It had been always my dream to perform my favorite Schumann Piano Concerto in A minor at La Fenice Opera House, to be on that stage after being on the other side, in the audience where I used to sit as a child with my family.  So I decided to put my memories and wishes into this little 'music box' and everything that would remind me of my home: the orchestra I used to listen to; a Fazioli piano, built just a few kilometers away; a great conductor friend who just recently made his 'home' in Venice and two masterworks by my favorite composer Robert Schumann." (Gloria Campaner)

Rachel Kolly d'Alba FRENCH IMPRESSIONS

Warner Classics' album French Impressions, with Swiss violinist Rachel Kolly d'Alba, is not, as you might initially expect, a survey of French violin works from the so-called Impressionists. Rather, it is an intriguing look at the many different directions French art music was taking in the early part of the 20th century. From the Third Violin Concerto of Saint-Saëns -- a longtime holdout of the Romantic style, although he accepted and encouraged the advancements of his compatriots -- to the exotic, virtuosic, and flashy Tzigane of Ravel, this program has more to offer listeners than just a grouping of Impressionist works. Likewise, d'Alba offers her listeners a breadth of colors and moods that match nicely with the changing characteristics of the scores. The Saint-Saëns concerto is played with invigorating force and drive, yielding a spontaneous, off-the-cuff feeling. Both the Ysaÿe works as well as the Chausson Poème are played with beautifully shaped, long, flowing lines and sensitive, careful application of dynamics. And finally Tzigane, in which d'Alba gets to show off her ample technique, punctuated articulation, and nimble bow arm. D'Alba produces a voluminous sound on her Vuilaume violin, so much so that her sound is almost too big and too present for the somewhat low recorded level of the accompanying orchestra.

Véronique Gens / Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire / John Axelrod BERLIOZ Herminie - Les Nuits d’été - RAVEL Shéhérazade

This is an absolutely wonderful program. Of course Les Nuits d’été and Shéhérazade are old discmates, most famously on an outstanding disc featuring the late, great Régine Crespin. A dramatic soprano, Crespin’s voice was quite a bit larger than the comparative lightness and purity of Gens, but these songs aren’t Wagner, and each soloist does the music full justice in her own way. Especially in Les Nuits d’été, which isn’t really a song cycle, Gens and conductor John Axelrod team up to produce a performance that actually makes you forget that the work consists of two quick numbers enclosing four long, droopy ones. “Absence” and “Au Cimetière” seldom have sounded more flowing and purposeful.

Gens’ deft handling of the poetry also pays major dividends in the long first song of Shéhérazade, a travelogue that all too easily degenerates into a sort of impressionistic, French version of “I’ve Got A Little List”. Not here, with Gens conveying an unexaggerated feeling of wonderment, ably seconded by Axelrod’s colorful accompaniments. The brief concluding songs, “La flûte enchanté” and “L’indifférent”, are sexy but not smarmy, beautifully capturing Ravel’s delicately etched vocal lines. I can’t help but think, despite wonderful performances by non-French singers (Ely Ameling especially), how much it helps to have a native speaker take the part.

However, what makes this disc particularly desirable is the presence of Herminie, an early cantata by Berlioz that’s almost always passed over in favor of the more popular La mort de Cléopâtre. Herminie is not only a very enjoyable work in its own right, but it begins with a tune that’s nothing less than the “idée fixe” that later found a home in the Symphonie fantastique. The tune returns in the middle section of the aria “Arrête! Arrête! Cher Tancrède”, where it becomes an accompaniment to the vocal line (sound sample). As with everything on this program, the work is compellingly sung by Gens and conducted with conviction. The engineering is also excellent, with Gens’ voice captured with truly striking naturalism. Highest recommendation. (David Hurwitz)