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Martin, F: Le Vin Herbé

Sandrine Piau (Iseut), Steve Davislim (Tristan), Jutta Böhnert (Branghien), Hildegard Wiedemann (Iseut aux Blanches Mains), Ulrike Bartsch (La Mère d'Iseult), Joachim Buhrmann (Kaherdin), Jonathan E. de la Paz Zaens (King Mark) & Roland Hartmann (Le Duc Hoël & Un Vieillard)

RIAS Kammerchor...

Daniel Reuss's… singers and instrumentalists show themselves completely attuned to this exalted score and sensitive to its luminous textures and powerful sense of mystery. The choir has perfect... — BBC Music Magazine, May 2007, 5 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 2nd Apr 2007
Catalogue No: HMC901935/36
Label: Harmonia Mundi
Length: 1 hour 52 minutes

Gramophone Magazine

July 2007

Editor's Choice

Martin, F: Le Vin herbé, Troisième Partie: La Mort

Work length1:16

$1.00

$1.25

Scharoun Ensemble, Daniel Reuss, RIAS Kammerchor

Prologue. Chœur: "Seigneurs, vous plaît-il"

Track length1:16

$1.00

$1.25

Martin, F: Le Vin herbé, Première Partie: Le Philtre

Work length34:11

$6.60

$8.25

Scharoun Ensemble, Sandrine Piau, Steve Davislim, Daniel Reuss, Jutta Böhnert, Ulrike Bartsch, RIAS Kammerchor

1er Tableau. Chœur: "Quand le temps arriva"

Track length4:39

$1.00

$1.25

2e Tableau. Chœur: "La nef tranchant les vagues profondes"

Track length3:40

$1.00

$1.25

3e Tableau. Basse "Un jour les vents tombèrent"

Track length6:00

$1.00

$1.25

4e Tableau. Chœur: "De nouveau la nef cinglait vers Tintagel"

Track length4:54

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$1.25

5e Tableau. Chœur: "Iseut l'aimait"

Track length1:54

$1.00

$1.25

6e Tableau. Chœur: "Au Le vin herbé: Troisième jour"

Track length13:04

$1.60

$2.00

Martin, F: Le Vin herbé, Deuxième Partie: La Forêt du Morois

Work length27:09

$5.40

$6.75

Daniel Reuss, Scharoun Ensemble, Steve Davislim, RIAS Kammerchor, Sandrine Piau, Jonathan de la Paz Zaens

1er Tableau. Chœur: "Iseut est reine"

Track length2:32

$1.00

$1.25

2e Tableau. Basse "Un jour, guidé par un forestier"

Track length3:51

$1.00

$1.25

3e Tableau. Altos et basse "A trois jours de là"

Track length10:00

$1.40

$1.75

4e Tableau. Sopranos et altos "Dans le fourré clos de ronces"

Track length4:05

$1.00

$1.25

5e Tableau. Altos et basse "Elle entendit alors"

Track length6:41

$1.00

$1.25

Martin, F: Le Vin herbé, Troisième Partie: La Mort

Work length46:22

$8.00

$10.00

Steve Davislim, RIAS Kammerchor, Daniel Reuss, Roland Hartmann, Joachim Buhrmann, Sandrine Piau, Hildegard Wiedemann, Scharoun Ensemble

1er Tableau. Sopranos et altos "Les amants ne pouvaient vivre"

Track length4:06

$1.00

$1.25

2e Tableau. Baryton "Or, il advint que Tristan"

Track length4:05

$1.00

$1.25

3e Tableau. Ténors et basse "Il manda Kaherdin en secret"

Track length10:42

$1.40

$1.75

4e Tableau. Chœur: "Ecoutez, Seigneurs"

Track length8:43

$1.20

$1.50

5e Tableau. Sopranos "Tristan était trop faible"

Track length7:07

$1.20

$1.50

6e Tableau. Chœur: "Sur la mer le vent s'était levé"

Track length8:27

$1.20

$1.50

7e Tableau. Chœur: "Quand le roi Marc apprit la mort des amants"

Track length3:12

$1.00

$1.25

Martin, F: Le Vin Herbé

Work length3:06

$1.00

$1.25

Scharoun Ensemble, RIAS Kammerchor, Daniel Reuss

Epilogue. Chœur: "Seigneurs, les bons trouvères d'antan"

Track length3:06

$1.00

$1.25

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About

Directly based on a modern French adaptation of the legend of Tristan and Iseult, Le Vin Herbé enabled Frank Martin, in the years immediately after World War II, to achieve an international reputation. What is remarkable in this score is its extraordinary invention yet Martin does not totally avoid serialism.

Artists

RIAS Kammerchor & Scharoun Ensemble, Daniel Reuss

Reviews

May 2007

Daniel Reuss's… singers and instrumentalists show themselves completely attuned to this exalted score and sensitive to its luminous textures and powerful sense of mystery. The choir has perfect intonation and tonal blend. Expertly balanced recording too. In all, a wonderful issue.

2010

Scored for 12 voices, piano and string septet, Frank Martin's setting of the legend of Tristan and Isolde, with its very understated emotions, sparse texture and deliberately limited harmonic vocabulary, has enjoyed a somewhat chequered history on record.
The RIAS Chamber Choir bring rather more than 12 voices to this recording – including the eight principal solo roles, there are a total of 29 singers listed – but, unquestionably, they preserve the intimacy and directness of expression which is so essential in any performance of Le vin herbé. It is clearly not to enrich the overall body of sound that Daniel Reuss has brought in so many voices, but he has clearly selected them, both in ensemble and solo, with painstaking care to underline the essential character of each of the individual tableaux, and even at the most climactic moments, there are never more than a handful singing together.
Such an approach pays remarkable dividends in that it allows the three main sections of the work to focus more clearly on their very different specific human characteristics. In the first, 'The Love Potion', while their love may have been chemically induced, there is no doubting the sense of mutual affection and respect with which the calm stateliness of Steve Davislim and the unaffected poise of Sandrine Piau portray Tristan and Isolde. The second, 'The Forest of Morois', deals with compassion and forgiveness and Jonathan de la Paz Zaens' portrayal of King Mark exudes profound goodness in a way which sheds a totally new light on the word 'kingly'.
The third, 'Death', covers jealousy and reconciliation and Hildegard Wiedemann is utterly convincing in the somewhat difficult role of the vaguely treacherous Isolde of the White Hands.
Alongside all this runs a beautifully crafted instrumental accompaniment, far more involved in the drama than the booklet notes imply by suggesting that it is 'like the scenery in a play'. There is immense sensitivity in the way the individual members of the Scharoun Ensemble handle the amazingly fluid instrumental textures, the very understatedness of which drives the fundamental message home far more powerfully than a whole plethora of dramatic orchestral gestures. Driven along with a powerful sense of urgency by Reuss, this is an intense and deeply moving performance which, complete with lavish packaging and a superlative recorded sound, brings to the catalogue something which it has never had before; a really first-rate and compelling performance of this most important of Martin scores.

July 2007

Driven along with a powerful sense of urgency by Reuss, this is an intense and deeply moving performance which… brings to the catalogue something which it has never had before; a really first-rate and compelling performance of this most important of Martin scores.

This Berlin-based recording is simply stupendous…The beautifully nuanced recorded sound caps an essential release for anyone interested in the forgotten byways of mid-20th-century music.

Martin, F: Le Vin Herbé

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