Marie-Nicole Lemieux, Lorenzo Soulès, Sophie Alour, Raphaële Lannadère, VV Brown, Labelle

2023-10-27 16:00:01
Marie-Nicole Lemieux
Berlioz, Summer Nights. Ravel, Scheherazade. Saint-Saëns, Persian Melodies
Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra, Kazuki Yamada (conductor). Cover of the album by Marie-Nicole Lemieux in melodies by Berlioz, Ravel and Saint-Saëns. ERATO/WARNER CLASSICS

A real joy in this recital of French melodies with orchestra which combines the famous Summer nights berlioziennes, Scheherazadeby Ravel, and the rare Persian melodies, by Saint-Saëns. The Canadian contralto has a magnificent voice, heady and radiant, whose flexibility is coupled with great coloristic ductility. She uses it with remarkable expressive intelligence, playing with the orchestra to serve a text of which she subtly takes care of the slightest inflections. Thus in Summer nights high-flying, long-established on stage, of which she delivers the quintessence, joining the pantheon of great Berliozian voices. The same art of the word envelopes Scheherazade, by Ravel, between lascivious evocation and undulating nostalgia, to which the shimmering Monte-Carlo Orchestra offers a setting. As to Persian melodiesby Saint-Saëns, whose inspiration is tinged with a symbolism aspiring to death, Marie-Nicole Lemieux adorns them with a noble and meditative poetry, synonymous with introspection and depth. Marie-Aude Roux

Erato/Warner Classics.

Lorenzo Soulès
Images…
Claude Debussy: Images. Olivier Messiaen: The Laughing Wheatear, The Calandrella Lark. Tristan Murail: The Mandrake. Philippe Manoury: Networks and Disruptions. George Benjamin: Piano Figures. Lorenzo Soulès (piano). Cover of the album “Images…”, by Lorenzo Soulès. B.RECORDS/OUTHERE MUSIC

Recorded in concert as an extension of the Orléans International Piano Competition, which Lorenzo Soulès won, in 2022, at the age of 30, this disc has the appearance of fireworks. His program, of great coherence, brings together pieces capable of amaze and his interpretation, faithful but never servile, testifies to a strong personality. The young Frenchman is not content, for example, with exposing his vision of the Debussyist universe; he reveals its multi-track dimension through insights which lead both to jazz and to certain composers of today. Penetrants Reflections in the water to the invigorators GoldfishTHE Images, by Debussy, constitute the fountain of youth of 20th century French music. Olivier Messiaen drank there and his Bird catalog proves it without excess of allegiance under the fingers of Lorenzo Soulès. By turns brilliant and captivating in the more recent pages (the poetic resonance of Tristan Murail, the telluric power of Philippe Manoury, the dreamlike seduction of George Benjamin), the musician seems to hold the secret of the source of energy known under the name piano. Pierre Gervasoni

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