Susan Graham - Poèmes De L’amour - Warner Classics: 2564619382 - download

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Only a brave, or foolhardy, composer sets about reorchestrating Debussy.
Yet that's what John Adams has done, in 'Le jet d'eau', the third of Debussy's Cinq poèmes de Charles Baudelaire, the... — Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 More…

Release Date: 16th May 2005
Catalogue No: 2564619382
Label: Warner Classics
Length: 67 minutes

Gramophone Magazine

June 2005

Disc of the Month

Chausson: Poème de l'amour et de la mer, Op. 19

Work length27:50

$3.00

$3.90

Susan Graham (mezzo-soprano)
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Yan Pascal Tortelier

I La fleur des eaux

Track length12:04

$1.00

$1.30

II Interlude

Track length2:32

$1.00

$1.30

III La mort de l'amour

Track length13:14

$1.00

$1.30

Ravel: Shéhérazade

Work length16:45

$3.00

$3.90

Susan Graham (mezzo-soprano)
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Yan Pascal Tortelier

I Asie

Track length9:40

$1.00

$1.30

II La flûte enchantée

Track length2:55

$1.00

$1.30

III L'indifférent

Track length4:10

$1.00

$1.30

Debussy: Debussy / Arr Adams

Work length23:04

$4.00

$5.20

Susan Graham (mezzo-soprano)
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Yan Pascal Tortelier

5 Poèmes de Charles Baudelaire : I Le balcon

Track length8:13

$1.00

$1.30

5 Poèmes de Charles Baudelaire : II Harmonie du soir

Track length3:57

$1.00

$1.30

5 Poèmes de Charles Baudelaire : III Le jet d'eau

Track length5:50

$1.00

$1.30

5 Poèmes de Charles Baudelaire : IV Receuillement

Track length5:04

$1.00

$1.30

Reviews
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Reviews

2010

Only a brave, or foolhardy, composer sets about reorchestrating Debussy.
Yet that's what John Adams has done, in 'Le jet d'eau', the third of Debussy's Cinq poèmes de Charles Baudelaire, the first four of which Adams has chosen to score for a modern orchestra. He's done an effective job, and if it makes the songs sound more boisterous, less mysterious than in the usual version for voice and piano, he's probably doing his soloist a big favour. By common consent, these are the most difficult of all Debussy's early songs. Susan Graham seems totally in command, her diminuendo on the words 'Et le charme des soirs' is tender, and is echoed a few bars later by Adams providing a nostalgic woodwind for the reference to those firelit evenings, 'par l'audeur du charbon'.
There's a lovely photograph, taken in 1893, the year of Poème de l'amour et de la mer. It shows Debussy, at Chausson's house, playing the piano. Both composers are in white shirts, surrounded by a peaceful group of family and friends, all in summer clothes, the windows openThis is the sort of mood this disc evokes.
Yan Pascal Tortelier and Susan Graham give Chausson's work a well-nigh perfect performance, capturing the sense of quiet regret at the memory of springtime love that has faded, and of a story that is never quite told.
As for Ravel's Shéhérazade, like nearly all mezzo-sopranos, Graham is stretched to the limits of her resources by the big climactic phrases in 'Asie'. She sings a hushed, beautiful 'La flûte enchantée' and a rather too sad 'L'indifférent', but it's all done with a fine line, with the BBC Symphony Orchestra playing Ravel's music with a good deal of passion.

Susan Graham - Poèmes De L’amour

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