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Track(s) taken from CDA67647

Soirées musicales

composer
published 1835

Roger Vignoles (piano)
Recording details: April 2007
Potton Hall, Dunwich, Suffolk, United Kingdom
Produced by Mark Brown
Engineered by Ben Connellan
Release date: June 2008
Total duration: 27 minutes 40 seconds

Cover artwork: The Gondala, Venice, with Santa Maria della Salute in the Distance (1865) by James Holland (1799-1870)
Copyright Harris Museum & Art Gallery, Preston, Lancashire, England / Bridgeman Images
 

Reviews

‘Rossini's writing for the piano is highly idiosyncratic. It requires a first-rate technique, a sure sense of style and an ability to bring off insouciance all manner of hair's-breadth effects. Mr Vignoles has the measure of all this and more’ (Gramophone)

‘Salon music at its most sophisticated and highly wrought. Gently elegiac bel canto arias jostle with popular dance rhythms, from a yodelling Tyrolean waltz to the snap and swagger of the bolero and fandango … the three singers give virtually unalloyed pleasure’ (The Daily Telegraph)

‘All four musicians make a positive contribution to this charming, entertaining disc—a surprise venture into a still under-explored area of art-song by the ever-enterprising Hyperion’ (International Record Review)

‘It's hard for any disc of Rossini's Paris salon songs not to speed by in a wink of delight. And it's impossible with Miah Persson's bright soprano and the sensitive accompaniments of Roger Vignoles’ (The Times)

‘Rossini's salon works are witty, charming, tuneful and downright silly, complete with florid vocal lines. Lovely performances’ (Classic FM Magazine)

‘Joyous music-making that is perfect for a summer's evening’ (Daily Mail)

‘There isn't a low point on the entire disc. Roger Vignoles plays with all his characteristic intelligence and subtlety. Miah Persson is enchanting in the opening La promessa, and playfully dazzling in La pastorella dell'Alpi. Stella Doufexis' pure, rich voice gives perfect expression to L’orpheline du Tyrol, and the two women's voices meld together magically when paired in duets such as La pesca. Meanwhile, Bruce Ford is technically brilliant and dramatically engaging in the drinking song, L'orgia, and smoothly leads the mood from light to darkness with L'esule, the first of the Péchés de vieillesse. If Rossini's songs are the cake and the performers the icing, the recording itself is the unexpected cherry on top. The acoustic of Potton Hall in Suffolk immediately transports you to the intimate space of Rossini's salon, candles flickering, guests listening intently, adding a further dimension to this already wonderful disc’ (bbc.co.uk)
The Soirées musicales begins with three short, formally simple, song-like arias that Rossini called ‘canzonettas’: La promessa, a song in which the lover swears eternal love and loyalty to his beloved, which begins as a gentle barcarolle and develops into a more impassioned central section; Il rimprovero, another declaration of love in which the jilted man berates the woman for causing him such pain; and La partenza, which describes the pain of separation, with the pianist’s right hand echoing the vocal line. L’orgia celebrates the joys of wine and love in a lively brindisi, while L’invito, to a poem by Count Pepoli, is a delightful bolero in which Eloisa tells her Ruggiero that she cannot live without him. In La pastorella dell’Alpi the shepherdess’s anguish sounds strangely lighthearted, but chords interrupt the catchy tune and express grief at Aminta’s faithlessness. La danza is a celebrated bravura piece for tenor—an intoxicating, breathless tarantella. La gita in gondola sets Pepoli’s poem to a charming barcarolle in rolling 12/8 time; La pesca, subtitled ‘notturno’ by the composer, is an Andante grazioso in 3/8 time, and sets a Metastasio poem in which the fisherman bids his sweetheart join him on the beach to enjoy the evening air. La serenata is a charming duet in which tenor and soprano first alternate and then sing together; La regata veneziana is a lively duet in Venetian dialect for two sopranos who describe how Tonio and Beppe encourage one another as they take part in a regatta.

from notes by Richard Stokes © 2008

Les Soirées musicales s’ouvrent sur trois courtes arias en manière de chanson, formellement simples, que Rossini baptisa «canzonettas»: La promessa, une mélodie où l’amant jure à sa bien-aimée amour éternel et loyauté et qui, commencée comme une douce barcarolle, se meut en une section centrale plus fervente; Il rimprovero, autre déclaration d’amour dans laquelle l’homme éconduit reproche à la femme de le faire tant souffrir; et La partenza, qui peint la douleur de la séperation, la main droite du pianiste faisant écho à la ligne vocale. L’orgia célèbre les joies du vin et de l’amour dans un allègre brindisi, tandis que L’invito, sur un poème de Pepoli, est un charmant boléro dans lequel Eloisa déclare à son Ruggiero qu’elle ne peut vivre sans lui. Dans La pastorella dell’Alpi, la détresse de la bergère semble étrangement badine, mais des accords viennent interrompre l’air accrocheur pour dire la peine suscitée par la perfidie d’Aminta. La danza est un célèbre morceau de bravoure pour ténor, une tarentella grisante, époustouflante. La gita in gondola exprime un poème de Pepoli par un rythme de barcarolle à 12/8, charmant et berceur; La pesca, que le compositeur sous-titra «notturno», est un Andante grazioso à 3/8 sur des vers de Métastase mettant en scène un pêcheur qui demande à son amoureuse de le rejoindre sur la plage pour goûter l’air du soir. La serenata est un ravissant duo qui voit le ténor et la soprano chanter à tour de rôle puis ensemble. La regata veneziana est un joyeux duo de sopranos qui décrit en dialecte vénitien comment Tonio et Beppe s’encouragent mutuellement à participer à une régate.

extrait des notes rédigées par Richard Stokes © 2008
Français: Hypérion

Die Soirées musicales beginnen mit drei kurzen, formal schlichten liedhaften Arien, die Rossini „Kanzonetten“ nannte: La promessa, ein Lied in dem der Liebhaber seiner Geliebten ewige Liebe und Treue schwört, beginnt als sanfte Barkarole und entwickelt sich in einen leidenschaftlichere Mittelteil; Il rimprovero ist eine weitere Liebeserklärung, in der der verschmähte Liebhaber die Frau beschimpft, weil sie ihm so viel Leid zugefügt hat; und La partenza, beschreibt die Qualen der Trennung, wobei die rechte Hand des Pianisten ein Echo der Gesangsstimme ist. L’orgia feiert die Freuden des Weins und der Liebe in einem lebhaften Brindisi, während L’invito, auf ein Gedicht des Grafen Pepoli, ein entzückender Bolero ist, in dem Eloisa ihrem Ruggiero mitteilt, dass sie ohne ihn nicht leben kann. In La pastorella dell’Alpi klingen die Schmerzensrufe der Schäferin eher leichtherzig, aber die eingängige Melodie wird durch Akkorde unterbrochen, die den Kummer über Amintas Treulosigkeit ausdrücken. La danza ist ein berühmtes Bravourstück für Tenor—eine berauschende, atemlose Tarantella. La gita in gondola vertont Pepolis Gedicht als charmante Barkarole in wogendem 12/8-Takt; La pesca, dem der Komponist den Untertitel „Notturno“ gab, ist ein Andante grazioso im 3/8-Takt und vertont ein Gedicht Metastasios, in dem der Fischer seinen Schatz bittet, sich ihm am Strand zuzugesellen, um die Abendluft zu genießen. La serenata bl ist ein charmantes Duett, in dem Tenor und Sopran zunächst abwechselnd, dann zusammen singen; La regata veneziana ist ein lebhaftes Duett in venezianischem Dialekt für zwei Soprane, die beschreiben, wie Tonio und Beppe sich in einer Regatta gegenseitig anspornen.

aus dem Begleittext von Richard Stokes © 2008
Deutsch: Renate Wendel

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Souvenirs de Venise
CDH55217
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