All this week on Classic Drive, Lorcan will feature music from 'Douce France: Mélodies & Chansons' by Benjamin Bernheim.
Over the last year, not only has Benjamin Bernheim given triumphant performances in La rondine, Les contes d'Hoffmann, Werther and Roméo et Juliette, he has also presented acclaimed recitals with his regular duo partner Carrie-Ann Matheson in Munich, Milan and Vienna, and at the Verbier Festival. His programmes included selections from the French repertoire, a rich seam of vocal writing which Bernheim has now mined for Douce France – Mélodies & Chansons. On this, his first solo song album, he explores French Romanticism in works by Berlioz, Chausson and Duparc, before ending with classic chansons by Brel, Kosma and Trenet.
While studying French song over the years, Bernheim has learned, notably, that the two cycles recorded here, Les nuits d’été and Chausson’s Poème de l’amour et de la mer, were both originally written (in part or fully) for the tenor and piano, before being orchestrated and becoming associated with the female voice. While not questioning these developments, he was "keen to get back to the mood of extreme intimacy that keyboard accompaniment allows for". In this respect, his colleague played a key role. "I might not have had the courage to embark on this adventure if I hadn’t had Carrie-Ann Matheson as my partner," says Bernheim. Not only does Matheson accompany the tenor, she has transcribed the orchestral scores into the idiomatic versions heard on Douce France.
Tracklist
- BERLIOZ - Les nuits d'e´te´, H 81 I. Villanelle
- II. Le spectre de la rose
- III. Sur les lagunes
- IV. Absence
- V. Au cimetie`re (Clair de lune)
- VI.L'ile inconnue
- CHAUSSON - Poe`me de l'amour et de la mer, Op. 19 I. La fleur des eaux.
- II. Interlude
- III. La mort de l'amour
- DUPARC - L'invitation au voyage, IHD10
- DUPARC - Extase, IHD6
- DUPARC - Phidyle´, IHD14
- DUPARC - La vie ante´rieure, IHD21
- KOSMA - Les feuilles mortes (Arr. Leuenberger for Tenor and Piano)
- TRENET, CHAULIAC - Douce France (Arr. Leuenberger for Tenor and Piano)
- BREL - Quand on n'a que l'amour (Arr. Leuenberger for Tenor and Piano)