Les Introuvables du Chant Francais (8 discs, EMI)

Description: Anyone interested in the history of French opera and singing will find plenty of interest in the 186 tracks published here. The sound quality varies considerably, but that’s hardly surprising with the earliest items being over 100 years old. The first of the eight CDs compiles ‘Le ton classique’ from Lully to Magnard. Then there is ‘Meyerbeer et le grand opéra’, taking in Halévy, Thomas and Saint Saëns. Two discs are devoted to the Opéra-Comique repertory, from Paer’s Le Maitre de chapelle (1821) to Hahn’s Le Marchand de Venise (1935). Gounod and Massenet get a CD each, then there is a disc called ‘en traduction’ with French translations of arias by Verdi, Puccini, Wagner and Mozart. Finally in ‘Le muse légère’, opérette, musical comedy and popular song get a rather cursory look-in. From the earliest recordings, Félia Litvinne (with Cortot at the piano!) in 1902, right through to items from the early 1950s, Renée Doria in an aria from La Reine de Saba, there are old favourites which leap out, still surprising in their power and personality. Leonce Escalaïs in the Act 1 aria from Robert le Diable: this surely is how Meyerbeer intended his music to be sung. Then Lucien Fugère, recorded when he was 80, showing astonishing security and a resonant voice in arias by Gluck, Chabrier and Messager. Louis Cazette, seductive and then stentorian in ‘Je suis l’oiseau’ from Massenet’s Griselidis. Then Suzanne Cesbron-Viseur, creating a whole character in three minutes in the emotion-packed aria from Massenet’s Sapho. Jean-Emile Vanni Marcoux, to whom the set is dedicated, displays his great versatility, from an introspective ‘Etre ou ne pas être’ from Thomas’s Hamlet, to two Massenet characters, the sensual aria of Mark Antony from Cleopatre, ‘Seule sur ma terrasse’, and the gorgeous melody from Panurge, ‘Touraine est un pays’, which makes one long to hear the rest of this late work. In more recherché repertory, it’s interesting to hear from such works as Cherubini’s Les Abencer-eages (with Thill), Adam’s Le Farfadet (a vivid André Baugé) and Fernand Ansseau in Février’s Monna Vanna. Among sopranos and mezzos, Solange Renaux in Persée, from 1935, must have been an early attempt at a Lully revival, while Georgette Frozier reveals her distinctive voice in arias from Les Troyens and Samson et Dalîla. Both Rose Caron and Germaine Martinelli impress in arias by Reyer, from Sigurd and Salammbo. Among the lighter fare, Hélène Regelly sings an aria from Hervé’s La Femme à Papa (misattributed in the booklet to Offenbach), Emma Luart is radiant as Fiorella in Offenbach’s Les Brigands, and although there is nothing from Yvonne Printemps, Suzanne-Marie Bertin does a passable imitation of her in one of Hahn’s songs for the 1934 film of La Dame aux camellias. Edited from Gramophone

Price: 70 USD

Location: Cincinnati, Ohio

End Time: 2025-01-24T23:30:51.000Z

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