Poème de l’amour et de la mer Symphonie Opus 20

Description

At the crossroads of the romanticism of Berlioz and Franck, the Wagnerian language, and the symbolism of the young Debussy, Ernest Chausson is a singular figure in French music. The Poème de l’amour et de la mer, a unique score in the musical landscape of the time, certainly his masterpiece, is both a secular cantata, a monologue, and a cycle of melodies, composed between 1882 and 1892, to poems by Maurice Bouchor, a longtime friend of Chausson. However, as early as 1886, the last section of the score, Le Temps des lilas, was published separately as a melody for voice and piano. Véronique Gens records this cycle for the first time, but she has already recorded Le Temps des Lilas with Susan Manoff on piano for her album Néère (ALPHA 215), of which Ernst Van Bek wrote in Classiquenews: “Le Temps des Lilas by Chausson hypnotizes with the accuracy of colors, the allusive precision of each vocal word: ecstatic and depressive prayer, here is another musical peak of French post-Wagnerism. The singing continuously expresses the profound and cursed languor of irradiated souls. Gens' tact and style affirm a remarkable acuity in allusion.” Clément Taillia spoke in Forum Opera of “the entire art of a song that wants to be said.”… Véronique Gens displays the same talents for this recording, where she reunites with an orchestra she knows very well, the Orchestre National de Lille, under the direction of its new conductor, Alexandre Bloch, whose commitment and first concerts and recordings are making a sensation. It is highly likely that the two artists will reunite in the near future… The Symphony in B-flat major completes this program: a pinnacle of French symphonism, as decisive a milestone as Franck's Symphony in D (Chausson's mentor), according to some!