Winner of the Gramophone Classical Music Award 2016 (Solo Vocal)
Featuring
Véronique Gens
Susan Manoff
Reynaldo Hahn
Henri Duparc
Ernest Chausson
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Composer's Artistic Vision
The mélodie was an expression of the bourgeois class, seeking to distinguish itself and prolong its dream of idleness, representing 'art for art's sake'.
Compositional Technique
In 'Trois jours de vendange', Reynaldo Hahn incorporates the funereal motif of the 'Dies Irae' in the piano part, a theme also used by composers like Berlioz, Liszt, and Saint-Saëns.
Compositional Technique
Ernest Chausson's 'Hébé' is subtitled 'Greek song in the Phrygian mode' and uses a pseudo-ancient scale to match its mythological subject.
Composer Biography
The three composers featured on this album, Henri Duparc, Ernest Chausson, and Reynaldo Hahn, were connected through their teachers: Duparc and Chausson studied with César Franck, while Chausson and Hahn studied with Massenet.
Historical Context
The French mélodie, a genre of art song, experienced its 'golden age' in the last three decades of the 19th century, a period this recording focuses on.
Composition History
Henri Duparc's 'Phidylé' was dedicated to Ernest Chausson, who reciprocated by dedicating his 'Poème de l'amour et de la mer' to Duparc.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Henri Duparc is credited with inventing a 'lied à la française' characterized by sombre atmospheres, opulent harmonies, forms adapted to poems, an orchestral piano part, and dramatic declamation close to speech rhythm.
