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Track(s) taken from CDA67321/2

Chanson perpétuelle, Op 37

First line:
Bois frissonnants, ciel étoilé
composer
Ernest Chausson (1855-1899)
17 December 1898
author of text
Charles Cros (1842-1888)

Dame Ann Murray (mezzo-soprano), Graham Johnson (piano), Chilingirian Quartet
Recording details: November 1999
Rosslyn Hill Unitarian Chapel, Hampstead, London, United Kingdom
Produced by Mark Brown
Engineered by Antony Howell & Julian Millard
Release date: March 2001
Total duration: 6 minutes 48 seconds
 

Other recordings available for download

Mary Bevan (soprano), Joseph Middleton (piano), Ruisi Quartet

Reviews

‘Up to Hyperion's habitual high standard’ (Gramophone)

‘Felicity Lott … is radiant and unhurried and the pick of an excellent crop of singers’ (BBC Music Magazine)

‘With this disc, the music of Chausson really does find revelatory new significance’ (The Times)

‘Superb. Art is long, life is short, and this offering is very, very rich’ (Fanfare, USA)

‘This is Hyperion at its best, presenting sensuous, exquisite performances … Dames Felicity Lott and Ann Murray generate magical artistry’ (Music Week)

‘Unlikely to be bettered’ (MusicWeb International)

‘To have the complete collection gathered together on disc is a treat, and with artists like these, the performances are about as good as you could expect this side of the pearly gates … if a reason for a reassessment of Chausson's role as a writer of mélodie is needed, this marvellous set is overwhelmingly it’ (Amazon.co.uk)

‘Editor, musicologist, impresario and pianist Graham Johnson gives us a jewel-box of essays, poems, time-lines, artwork, and Chausson's complete songs. And the performances are as magical and eloquent as the program book’ (Opera News)
Inspired by aspects of Wagner, and specifically the concept of the Liebestod, Chausson’s more well-known Chanson perpétuelle (1898/9) sets stanzas from Cros’ poem ‘Nocturne’ from the poet’s 1873 collection Le coffret de santal (Sandalwood box) and equates love with death. In desolation at the departure of her lover, the poem’s lead character plots her own death by drowning. The musical scale of the scene is presented in chamber forces, using voice, piano, and string quartet, although Chausson also prepared other versions of the song—for voice and piano, and for voice and orchestra—the motivations for which were curtailed by the composer’s untimely death in a cycling accident after completing this version of the piece.

from notes by Helen Abbott © 2023

Other albums featuring this work

Visions illuminées
Mary Bevan (soprano)
Studio Master: SIGCD735Download onlyStudio Master FLAC & ALAC downloads available

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