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.
5.
Wesendonck Lieder by Richard Wagner
Performer:
Irwin Gage (Piano),
Jessye Norman ()
Period: Romantic
Written: 1857-1858; Germany
Date of Recording: 09/1969
Venue: Studio Zehlendorf, Berlin, Germany
Length: 19 Minutes 22 Secs.
6.
Dem Unendlichen, D 291 by Franz Schubert
Performer:
Irwin Gage (Piano),
Jessye Norman ()
Period: Romantic
Written: 1815; Vienna, Austria
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.
11.
Les Contes d'Hoffmann: Act 4. Vénus dit à Fortune by Jacques Offenbach
Performer:
Jessye Norman (),
Anne Murray (),
Dale Duesing (),
Neil Shicoff ()
Conductor:
Sylvain Cambreling
Period: Romantic
Written: France
Venue: Palais Des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, Belgium
Length: 2 Minutes 13 Secs.
15.
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.
16.
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.
17.
La Belle Hélène: Act 1. Amours divins! by Jacques Offenbach
Performer:
Jessye Norman (),
John Aler (),
Gabriel Baquier (),
Jean-Philippe Lafont (),
Colette Alliot-Lugaz (),
Charles Burles (),
Nicole Carreras ()
Conductor:
Michel Plasson
Period: Romantic
Written: 1864
Venue: Halle aux grains, Toulouse
Length: 3 Minutes 30 Secs.
18.
La Belle Hélène: Act 2. On me nomme Hélène la blonde by Jacques Offenbach
Performer:
Jessye Norman (),
John Aler (),
Gabriel Baquier (),
Jean-Philippe Lafont (),
Colette Alliot-Lugaz (),
Charles Burles (),
Nicole Carreras ()
Conductor:
Michel Plasson
Period: Romantic
Written: 1864
Venue: Halle aux grains, Toulouse
Length: 4 Minutes 53 Secs.
19.
La Belle Hélène: Act 3. Là vrai! C'est elle! by Jacques Offenbach
Performer:
Jessye Norman (),
John Aler (),
Gabriel Baquier (),
Jean-Philippe Lafont (),
Colette Alliot-Lugaz (),
Charles Burles (),
Nicole Carreras ()
Conductor:
Michel Plasson
Period: Romantic
Written: 1864
Venue: Halle aux grains, Toulouse
Length: 2 Minutes 24 Secs.
20.
La Belle Hélène: Act 3. Elle vient! C'est elle! by Jacques Offenbach
Performer:
John Aler (),
Gabriel Baquier (),
Jean-Philippe Lafont (),
Colette Alliot-Lugaz (),
Charles Burles (),
Nicole Carreras (),
Jessye Norman ()
Conductor:
Michel Plasson
Period: Romantic
Written: 1864
Venue: Halle aux grains, Toulouse
Length: 4 Minutes 23 Secs.
21.
Chansons madécasses by Maurice Ravel
Performer:
Dalton Baldwin (Piano),
Renaud Fontanarosa (Cello),
Michel Debost (Flute),
Jessye Norman ()
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1925-1926; France
Date of Recording: 07/20/1983
Venue: Salle Wagram, Paris
Length: 13 Minutes 7 Secs.
22.
Chanson du rouet by Maurice Ravel
Performer:
Dalton Baldwin (Piano),
Jessye Norman ()
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1898; France
Date of Recording: 07/20/1983
Venue: Salle Wagram, Paris
Length: 4 Minutes 13 Secs.
23.
Si morne! by Maurice Ravel
Performer:
Dalton Baldwin (Piano),
Jessye Norman ()
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1898; France
Date of Recording: 07/20/1983
Venue: Salle Wagram, Paris
Length: 4 Minutes 20 Secs.
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