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Piotr Beczala: The French Collection

Piotr Beczala (tenor), Diana Damrau (soprano)

Orchestre de l’Opéra National de Lyon, Alain Altinoglu

Piotr Beczala: The French Collection

Awards:

Crucially, his linguistic abilities are up to the challenge, and throughout the recital his French proves genuinely idiomatic. So does his appreciation of French style, with its important focus...

Piotr Beczala: The French Collection

Piotr Beczala (tenor), Diana Damrau (soprano)

Orchestre de l’Opéra National de Lyon, Alain Altinoglu

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This release includes a digital booklet

Stream now Hi-RES 96 kHz, 24 bit

Awards:

Crucially, his linguistic abilities are up to the challenge, and throughout the recital his French proves genuinely idiomatic. So does his appreciation of French style, with its important focus...

About

The remarkable Piotr Beczala has just won a prestigious ECHO Klassik award for “Singer of the Year” 2014 – and at the incredible gala event, he performed Massenet’s “Pourquoi me réveiller”, which will be on his brand new album. Now, this world-leading tenor makes an awaited return to the studio and records a collection of best-loved operatic arias that lie at the core of his repertoire, all connected to France or Paris (either by French composers, or composed for the city of love, Paris). He is joined on this occasion by the German star soprano Diana Damrau.

Piotr Beczala is praised worldwide for his flawless, elegant delivery, immaculate musicianship and keen interpretive intelligence. His previous (and debut) album on DG was extremely well received by audience and press worldwide. Diapason d'Or in France, 10 in the Dutch magazine Luister, a glowing review in the Australian limelight: "if, like me, you are a fan of Richard Tauber, or if you just want to hear the best tenor since Nicola Geddai in this repertoire, you really must buy the album."

Now, Piotr Beczala records his first solo operatic album with Deutsche Grammophon. It will contain famous arias from Berlioz, Gounod, Massenet, Verdi and others. A perfectly cultivated and stylish singer, he is currently at the absolute peak of his career and shows deep affinity with the repertoire.

Contents and tracklist

"Toute mon âme est là! Pourquoi me réveiller"
Track length3:07
"Ah! Tout est bien fini! … Ô Souverain, ô juge, ô père"
Track length5:26
"Merci, doux crépuscule!"
Track length5:25
"Ah! Je vais l'aimer"
Track length3:01
"Fontainebleau! Forêt immense et solitaire! … Je l’ai vue, et dans son sourire"
Track length4:54
"Maintenant, observons … Viens, gentille dame"
Track length9:15
"Ange si pur"
Track length3:48
"L'amour! L'amour! ... Ah! Lève-toi, soleil!"
Track length4:40
"Salut! Demeure chaste et pure"
Track length5:06
"La fleur que tu m'avais jetée"
Track length4:44
"Seul sur la terre … Ange céleste"
Track length5:14
"Toi! Vous! Oui, c’est moi … N'est-ce plus ma main"
Track length8:03

Spotlight on this release

Awards and reviews

June 2015

Crucially, his linguistic abilities are up to the challenge, and throughout the recital his French proves genuinely idiomatic. So does his appreciation of French style, with its important focus on declamation of the text as a fundamental...This pays huge dividends. A wide variety of dynamics and some thrilling top notes bring him success as Massenet's doomed Romantic poet

23rd February 2015

Beczala brings white-hot intensity to conflicted characters like des Grieux (Manon), Werther, and in particular Don José (try the beautifully judged diminuendo at the end of the famous ‘Flower song’, where many tenors simply power on through, and see if the hairs on your neck don’t prickle!)...a delightful aria from Boieldieu’s La dame blanche shows him to be no slouch in florid high-wire territory.

8th March 2015

After Roberto Alagna, and possibly Jonas Kaufmann, there is no more charismatic French operatic hero today than the Polish tenor...He impresses in his core roles from Faust, Werther and Manon.

29th March 2015

he is a meticulous singer, who eschews vulgarity or grandstanding: the score is always honoured, sometimes at the expense of spontaneous passion...but you don’t often hear the “Flower Song” from Bizet’s Carmen sung so impeccably.
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