Album du 80e anniversaire

Description

En the margins of the great German and Italian lyrical traditions, one characterized by its evocative power and a certain roughness, the other by its roundness and legato, there exists, within French singing, a well-established tradition of "the French bird," a light soprano characterized by chic, elegance, and style, combined with a light voice with stratospheric high notes. At the top, there were yesterday Lily Pons, Mado Robin, and Mady Mesplé, and very recently Natalie Dessay for the first part of her career. EMI Classics today celebrates the 80th anniversary of Mady Mesplé, which will take place on March 7, with this very beautiful anthology box set of 4CDs, presented by Alain Duault and including a 40-page booklet, richly illustrated with 13 pages of rare photos. Mady Mesplé: her light yet colorful voice, pyrotechnic to the point of swooning, has thrilled lovers of bel canto for over 25 years. And beyond these vocal and virtuosic qualities, there is something else that has made people attach to her, that the public has acclaimed her, that she remains so dear to the memory of singing enthusiasts. And that something else is a honey behind the diamond, a inhabited transparency, a grace. From her debut at 21, in Lakmé, to the Gilda of Rigoletto or the Rosine of The Barber of Seville to the Dinorah of the too forgotten Pardon de Ploërmel, her piquant charm and crystalline vocalises immediately ensure her the favor of the public. Very quickly, theaters demand her and she chains "a life of suitcases and trains," from Lyon to Strasbourg, from Nantes to Brussels - and finally Paris, the Opéra-Comique, in 1956, at 25, with Lakmé and The Barber of Seville first and then a role where she will shine, Olympia from The Tales of Hoffmann, which she will sing often and for which, nearly 20 years later, she will be directed by Patrice Chéreau, at the Opéra de Paris. Very quickly, alongside these beautiful roles from the repertoire that her voice offers her, those of French opera but also of Italian opera, and those of Mozart of course (her Queen of the Night from The Magic Flute is anthological!), she approaches modern works and creations without complex with this same vocal health that gives these emerging scores a chance, from Charles Chaynes to Betsy Jolas and Pierre Boulez. But it is through the whole world, from Edinburgh to Vienna, from Munich to Buenos Aires, from Aix-en-Provence to Chicago, from Moscow to Naples or New York, also through roles like Lucia di Lammermoor which will earn her all the praise, The Magic Flute or Zerbinette from Ariadne auf Naxos that her reputation will be established. This will not prevent her from poaching for pleasure in the gardens of operetta where her naturalness, her rich and virtuosic voice, her freedom will work wonders. And then there will be for Mady Mesplé the adventure of the recital, with the great Janine Reiss among others, that of television too where she will regularly appear alongside Jacques Martin, thus acquiring a popular notoriety that has never waned. Today, this rich box set testifies to how much Mady Mesplé's contribution to French singing is exciting precisely in its diversity. Mady Mesplé recorded exclusively for La Voix de son Maître/EMI Classics for over twenty years, from 1968 to 1989. To celebrate her 80th anniversary, we have gathered in this box set her most significant interpretations in the various fields where she has excelled: opera, operetta, melody, contemporary music. We have included some recordings that had never been released, such as the aria from The Daughter of the Regiment recorded during the sessions of her album dedicated to the great arias of Italian operas or even the Bist Du by Liszt or De los Amantes viejo by Rodrigo. All these recordings are EMI productions except for 3 songs drawn from the INA archives.