Notes and Editorial Reviews
The music on these CDs presents a cross-section of Jessye Norman's repertory, in German and French opera, in Lieder and mélodie, in oratorio and even operetta. Since Wagner's Tannhäuser provided Jessye Norman with her first stage role, it is appropriate to begin with two arias from that opera. Senta's ballad from Der fliegende Holländer tells the story of the Flying Dutchman, who is condemned to sail the seas for eternity unless he can find a woman who will remain faithful unto death. The Wesendonck- Lieder were composed by Wagner in 1857–8 as a tribute to Mathilde Wesendonck, the wife of his friend Otto; particularly in 'Im Treibhaus' and 'Träume', they look forward to Tristan und Isolde. The three Schubert songs,
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and the solo from Brahms's German Requiem, bring the German part of the programme to a rapturous conclusion.
From Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann Jessye Norman sings the role of Giulietta, a Venetian courtesan, who ruins the hero, Hoffmann, by urging him to take part in a duel, and then in a symbolic gesture demands from him the ultimate sacrifice – the gift of his reflection. 'The face that launched a thousand ships' – Helen of Troy in La Belle Hélène – is another kind of temptress, and shows the full extent of Norman's comic gifts. In the song cycles by Ravel and Poulenc we glimpse a different side of the artist. La Fraîcheur et le feu was composed in 1950 for the baritone Pierre Bernac, Poulenc's greatest interpreter; in the 1960s, Bernac gave many master-classes covering the whole world of French song, and Jessye Norman was one of his students. The poems set are entitled Vue donne vie (‘Sight gives life'), but Poulenc asked the author, Paul Eluard, to give him a new title for the song-cycle. 'Unis la fraîcheur et le feu' is the opening line of the fifth song: 'Unite the coolness and the fire'. That is exactly what Jessye Norman has always done, and – in Bernac's words – she has done it with 'profound humanity'. Read less
Works on This Recording
1.
Tannhäuser: Dich, teure Halle by Richard Wagner
Performer:
Jessye Norman ()
Conductor:
Klaus Tennstedt
Period: Romantic
Written: 1845/1861; Germany
Venue: No. 1 Studio, Abbey Road, London
Length: 3 Minutes 31 Secs.
2.
Tannhäuser: Allmächt'ge Jungfrau "Elisabeth's Prayer" by Richard Wagner
Performer:
Jessye Norman ()
Conductor:
Klaus Tennstedt
Period: Romantic
Written: 1845/1861; Germany
Venue: No. 1 Studio, Abbey Road, London
Length: 6 Minutes 12 Secs.
3.
Der fliegende Holländer: Jo-ho-joe! Traft ihr das Schiff by Richard Wagner
Performer:
Jessye Norman ()
Conductor:
Klaus Tennstedt
Period: Romantic
Written: 1841/1852; Germany
Venue: No. 1 Studio, Abbey Road, London
Length: 8 Minutes 35 Secs.
4.
Tristan und Isolde: Mild und leise "Liebestod" by Richard Wagner
Performer:
Jessye Norman ()
Conductor:
Klaus Tennstedt
Period: Romantic
Written: 1859; Germany
Venue: No. 1 Studio, Abbey Road, London
Length: 8 Minutes 43 Secs.
5.
Wesendonck Lieder by Richard Wagner
Performer:
Jessye Norman (),
Irwin Gage (Piano)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1857-1858; Germany
Date of Recording: 09/1969
Venue: Studio Zehlendorf, Berlin, Germany
Length: 19 Minutes 22 Secs.
6.
Dem Unendlichen ("Wie erhebt sich das Herz"), song for voice & piano, D. 291 by Franz Schubert
Performer:
Irwin Gage (Piano),
Jessye Norman ()
Period: Romantic
Written: 09/15/1815
Date of Recording: 09/1969
Venue: Studio Zehlendorf, Berlin, Germany
Length: 4 Minutes 48 Secs.
7.
Der Winterabend, D 938 by Franz Schubert
Performer:
Irwin Gage (Piano),
Jessye Norman ()
Period: Romantic
Written: 1828; Vienna, Austria
Date of Recording: 09/1969
Venue: Studio Zehlendorf, Berlin, Germany
Length: 8 Minutes 51 Secs.
8.
Auflösung ("Verbirg dich, Sonne"), song for voice & piano, D. 807 by Franz Schubert
Performer:
Irwin Gage (Piano),
Jessye Norman ()
Period: Romantic
Written: 1824
Date of Recording: 09/1969
Venue: Studio Zehlendorf, Berlin, Germany
Length: 2 Minutes 40 Secs.
9.
German Requiem, Op. 45: Ihr habt nun Traurigkeit by Johannes Brahms
Performer:
Jessye Norman ()
Conductor:
Klaus Tennstedt
Period: Romantic
Written: 1854-1868; Austria
Venue: No. 1 Studio, Abbey Road, London
Length: 8 Minutes 19 Secs.
10.
Les Contes d'Hoffmann: Act 4. Barcarolle. Belle nuit, ô nuit d'amour by Jacques Offenbach
Performer:
Neil Shicoff (),
Dale Duesing (),
Anne Murray (),
Jessye Norman ()
Conductor:
Sylvain Cambreling
Period: Romantic
Written: France
Venue: Palais Des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, Belgium
Length: 4 Minutes 23 Secs.
11.
Les Contes d'Hoffmann: Act 4. Vénus dit à Fortune by Jacques Offenbach
Performer:
Neil Shicoff (),
Anne Murray (),
Dale Duesing (),
Jessye Norman ()
Conductor:
Sylvain Cambreling
Period: Romantic
Written: France
Venue: Palais Des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, Belgium
Length: 2 Minutes 13 Secs.
12.
Les Contes d'Hoffmann: Act 4. Qui connaît donc la souffrance... O Dieu, de quelle ivresse by Jacques Offenbach
Performer:
Dale Duesing (),
Jessye Norman (),
Anne Murray (),
Neil Shicoff ()
Conductor:
Sylvain Cambreling
Period: Romantic
Written: France
Venue: Palais Des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, Belgium
Length: 6 Minutes 51 Secs.
13.
Les Contes d'Hoffmann: Act 4. Jusque-là cependant affermis mon courage... Aujourd'hui, aujourd'hui l by Jacques Offenbach
Performer:
Neil Shicoff (),
Dale Duesing (),
Jessye Norman (),
Anne Murray ()
Conductor:
Sylvain Cambreling
Period: Romantic
Written: France
Venue: Palais Des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, Belgium
Length: 3 Minutes 47 Secs.
14.
Roméo et Juliette, Op. 17: Premier transports by Hector Berlioz
Performer:
Jessye Norman ()
Conductor:
Riccardo Muti
Period: Romantic
Written: 1839; France
Venue: Memorial Hall, Philadelphia, PA
Length: 6 Minutes 56 Secs.
15.
Chansons madécasses by Maurice Ravel
Performer:
Jessye Norman (),
Dalton Baldwin (Piano),
Michel Debost (Flute),
Renaud Fontanarosa (Cello)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1925-1926; France
Date of Recording: 07/20/1983
Venue: Salle Wagram, Paris
Length: 13 Minutes 7 Secs.
16.
Chanson du rouet, song for voice & piano by Maurice Ravel
Performer:
Dalton Baldwin (Piano),
Jessye Norman ()
Period: Modern
Written: 1898
Date of Recording: 07/20/1983
Venue: Salle Wagram, Paris
Length: 4 Minutes 13 Secs.
17.
Si morne!, song for voice & piano by Maurice Ravel
Performer:
Dalton Baldwin (Piano),
Jessye Norman ()
Period: Modern
Written: 1898; France
Date of Recording: 07/20/1983
Venue: Salle Wagram, Paris
Length: 4 Minutes 20 Secs.
18.
Miroirs brûlants: no 1, Tu vois le feu du soir by Francis Poulenc
Performer:
Irwin Gage (Piano),
Jessye Norman ()
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1938; France
Date of Recording: 09/1969
Venue: Studio Zehlendorf, Berlin, Germany
Length: 4 Minutes 18 Secs.
19.
La fraîcheur et le feu by Francis Poulenc
Performer:
Irwin Gage (Piano),
Jessye Norman ()
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1950; France
Date of Recording: 09/1969
Venue: Studio Zehlendorf, Berlin, Germany
Length: 7 Minutes 11 Secs.
20.
La Belle Hélène: Act 1. Amours divins! by Jacques Offenbach
Performer:
Nicole Carreras (),
Charles Burles (),
Colette Alliot-Lugaz (),
Jean-Philippe Lafont (),
Gabriel Baquier (),
John Aler (),
Jessye Norman ()
Conductor:
Michel Plasson
Period: Romantic
Written: 1864
Venue: Halle aux grains, Toulouse
Length: 3 Minutes 30 Secs.
21.
La Belle Hélène: Act 2. On me nomme Hélène la blonde by Jacques Offenbach
Performer:
Nicole Carreras (),
Charles Burles (),
Colette Alliot-Lugaz (),
Jean-Philippe Lafont (),
Gabriel Baquier (),
John Aler (),
Jessye Norman ()
Conductor:
Michel Plasson
Period: Romantic
Written: 1864
Venue: Halle aux grains, Toulouse
Length: 4 Minutes 53 Secs.
22.
La Belle Hélène: Act 3. Là vrai! C'est elle! by Jacques Offenbach
Performer:
Nicole Carreras (),
Charles Burles (),
Colette Alliot-Lugaz (),
Jean-Philippe Lafont (),
Gabriel Baquier (),
John Aler (),
Jessye Norman ()
Conductor:
Michel Plasson
Period: Romantic
Written: 1864
Venue: Halle aux grains, Toulouse
Length: 2 Minutes 24 Secs.
23.
La Belle Hélène: Act 3. Elle vient! C'est elle! by Jacques Offenbach
Performer:
Nicole Carreras (),
Charles Burles (),
Colette Alliot-Lugaz (),
Jean-Philippe Lafont (),
Gabriel Baquier (),
John Aler (),
Jessye Norman ()
Conductor:
Michel Plasson
Period: Romantic
Written: 1864
Venue: Halle aux grains, Toulouse
Length: 4 Minutes 23 Secs.
Sound Samples
Tannhäuser: Dich, teure Halle, grüss' ich wieder (Elisabeth's Greeting) (Act II)
Tannhäuser: Allmächt'ge Jungfrau, hör mein Flehen (Elisabeth's Prayer) (Act III)
Der fliegende Holländer: Johohoe! Traft ihr das Schiff (Senta's Ballad) (Act II)
Tristan und Isolde: Mild und leise (Liebestod)
Wesendonck Lieder (1995 Digital Remaster): I. Der Engel
Wesendonck Lieder (1995 Digital Remaster): II. Stehe still
Wesendonck Lieder (1995 Digital Remaster): III. Im Treibhaus
Wesendonck Lieder (1995 Digital Remaster): IV. Schmerzen
Wesendonck Lieder (1995 Digital Remaster): V. Trõume
Dem Unendlichen D291 (1995 Digital Remaster)
Der Winterabend D938 (1995 Digital Remaster)
Auflösung D807 (1995 Digital Remaster)
Ein deutsches Requiem Op. 45: V. Ihr habt nun Traurigkeit (Langsam)
Les Contes d'Hoffmann, Act IV: Belle nuit, ô nuit d'amour (Nicklausse, Giulietta, Chorus)
Les Contes d'Hoffmann, Act IV: Vénus dit à Fortune (Giulietta, Chorus, Hoffmann, Schlemil)
Les Contes d'Hoffmann, Act IV: Qui connaît donc la souffrance...Hoffmann, vite, partons d'ici!...O Dieu, de quelle ivresse embrasses-tu mon âme (Giulietta/Choeurs/Hoffmann/Nicklausse)
Les Contes d'Hoffmann, Act IV: Jusqu'à là cependant affermis mon courage...Aujourd'hui, aujour'hui les larmes (Giulietta, Hoffmann)
Chansons madécasses: Nahandove
Chansons madécasses: Aoua
Chansons madécasses: Il est doux..
Roméo et Juliette Op. 17: Premier transports (Strophes)
Miroirs brûlants (1995 Digital Remaster): Tu vois le feu du soir
La Fraîcheur et le feu (1995 Digital Remaster): Rayon des yeux
La Fraîcheur et le feu (1995 Digital Remaster): Le matin les branches attisent
La Fraîcheur et le feu (1995 Digital Remaster): Tout disparut
La Fraîcheur et le feu (1995 Digital Remaster): Unis la fraîcheur et le feu
La Fraîcheur et le feu (1995 Digital Remaster): Homme au sourir tendre
La Fraîcheur et le feu (1995 Digital Remaster): La grande rivière qui va
La Belle Hélène: Amours divins (Acte I)
La Belle Hélène: On me nomme Hélène la Blonde (Acte II)
La Belle Hélène: Là vrai, je ne suis pas coupable (Acte III)
La Belle Hélène: Elle vient, c'est elle (Acte II
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