Notes and Editorial Reviews
RAVEL
Shéhérazade.
MESSIAEN
Poèmes pour Mi.
DUTILLEUX
2 Sonnets de Jean Cassou. Le Temps l’Horloge
1
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Renée Fleming (sop); Alan Gilbert,
1
Seiji Ozawa, cond; French RPO;
1
French Natl O
•
DECCA 16543-02 (69:06
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class="ARIAL12">Text and Translation)
1
Live: Paris 5/7/2009.
A good friend of mine sent me Susanna Phillips’s new recital of French songs by Debussy, Fauré, and this same Messiaen cycle, on Bridge 9356. Since it was a recent CD, I was tempted to review it separately, but to be honest, I found Phillips to be good but not great. Part of it is her rather indifferent pianist, Myra Huang, who doesn’t sound as if she has a clue what the songs of Fauré or Debussy are about, but even in the Messiaen cycle—which is, surprisingly, much better than the older fare—Phillips is just good. She has a nice, bright soprano voice, not really cookie-cutter but not highly distinctive either, yet it is only in
Poèmes pour Mi
that she seems to come to life.
Putting on Renée Fleming immediately after is like going from a black-and-white, two-dimensional photo to 3-D digital color. Nor is it just that conductor Alan Gilbert does a much better job of accompanying Fleming, though he does. To begin with, Fleming has the immeasurably better, richer, and more interesting voice; she employs that extraordinary voice in a performance that has both musical accuracy and true emotional depth; and, moreover, Fleming seems to have internalized Messiaen’s songs to the point where she doesn’t just know them or understand them, but somehow “sees” what the composer saw in his mind when composing them.
In short, this is an extraordinary feat, but it is not—as it is in the Phillips recital—an isolated high point. Her performances of the Dutilleux material (
Le Temps l’Horlage
with Ozawa is the premiere performance) and the Ravel
Shéhérazade
retain the magical spell of the Messiaen. I saw Fleming, on TV, perform the Ravel cycle roughly a decade ago with the New York Philharmonic conducted by Andrew Davis. At that time, Fleming could blow hot or cold interpretively, and I knew that it would take a great conductor—someone of Davis’s high abilities—to draw a great performance out of her. He did so. Yet this studio recording directed by Alan Gilbert is, if I may be so immodest to say so, not only greater but perhaps the greatest recording of this orchestral song cycle ever put on disc. True, the Fleming voice was younger and fresher a decade ago, but just listen to the extraordinary range of colors she employs in this cycle. It is, in some ways, a slightly darker range of hues, ochres and sepias compared to the blues and silvers of yore, but they are used with the skill of a master painter. Never in my life have I heard a performance so affecting, so rich, so artistically done down to the last demisemiquaver.
This is, quite simply, an extraordinary disc. I’ll go further: This is desert-island material.
FANFARE: Lynn René Bayley
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Works on This Recording
1.
Shéhérazade by Maurice Ravel
Performer:
Renée Fleming (Soprano)
Conductor:
Alan Gilbert
Orchestra/Ensemble:
French Radio Philharmonic Orchestra
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1903; France
2.
Poèmes pour Mi by Olivier Messiaen
Performer:
Renée Fleming (Soprano)
Conductor:
Alan Gilbert
Orchestra/Ensemble:
French Radio Philharmonic Orchestra
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1936; France
3.
Sonnets (2) de Jean Cassou: J'ai rêvé que je vous portais entre mes bras by Henri Dutilleux
Performer:
Renée Fleming (Soprano)
Conductor:
Alan Gilbert
Orchestra/Ensemble:
French Radio Philharmonic Orchestra
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1954; France
4.
Sonnets (2) de Jean Cassou: Il n'y avait que des troncs déclinés by Henri Dutilleux
Performer:
Renée Fleming (Soprano)
Conductor:
Alan Gilbert
Orchestra/Ensemble:
French Radio Philharmonic Orchestra
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1954; France
5.
Le temps l'horloge by Henri Dutilleux
Performer:
Renée Fleming (Soprano)
Conductor:
Seiji Ozawa
Orchestra/Ensemble:
French Radio Philharmonic Orchestra
Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review: 
( 1 Customer Review )
Mastersinger in Skirts July 5, 2012
By Melvin Rosenberg (Los Angeles, CA) See All My Reviews
"When I first heard Renee Fleming sing four of the "Poemrs pour Mi" with the New York Philharmonic, directed by Alan Gilbert, I was bowled over. I thought to myself that wanted to hear Ms. Fleming sing the entire cycle. I heard her sing more of the songs, live, in am recital under the auspices of Los Angeles Opera, with piano accompaniment. Now we have them all, an astonishing achievement for all concerned. The Ravel Sheherazade is a staple, also thrillingly done. The Dutilleux will take many hear to appreciate and fully absorb. His music is too-little known. This is definitely a treasure for adventurous, open minded listeners. Remember to follow the texts which are enunciated by Ms. Fleming beautifully."
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