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Track(s) taken from CDA66801/2

L'absent

First line:
Ô silence des nuits dont la voix seule est douce
composer
1876
author of text

Dame Felicity Lott (soprano), Graham Johnson (piano)
Recording details: May 1993
St Paul's Church, New Southgate, London, United Kingdom
Produced by Arthur Johnson
Engineered by Keith Warren
Release date: October 1993
Total duration: 4 minutes 5 seconds

Cover artwork: Lord Byron and the maid of Athens. Sir William Allen (1782-1850)
Roy Miles Gallery, 29 Bruton Steet, London W1
 

Reviews

‘Exemplary … enchanting … ravishingly sung’ (The Daily Telegraph)

‘Superb … perfection … best of the year’ (The Sunday Times)

«Uniformement exquis» (Répertoire, France)

«C'est remarquable. Un coffret qui devient un événement» (Compact, France)

'Un stupendo doble compacto' (CD Compact, Spain)
L’absent (1876) is said to have been written for the composer’s wife as a rather belated apology in song (the words are Gounod’s own) for his English escapade with Mrs Weldon. The story about this was so well known and discussed in the drawing rooms of both Paris and London at the time that an open recantation of this sort must have seemed appropriate. It might not have been lost on Gounod that such a public statement of mea culpa was also a strong selling point for the music. The piece is probably one of the composer’s most famous mélodies, and with justification. The rippling accompaniment flows seraphically beneath an exceptionally beautiful (and extremely difficult) long-breathed vocal line. César Franck might easily have written this perfumed and beatific music. It is to Gounod’s credit that he somehow avoids the sugary sentimentality which would make the listener question the composer’s sincerity. In a good performance the music radiates a noble sense of regret and loss, with just the slightest whiff of attitudinizing. It helps to have the words sung by a soprano; men and women have a different way of spinning a line.

from notes by Graham Johnson © 1993

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