Thursday, May 7, 2009

Debussy: La Flûte de Pan, C'est l'extase langoureuse, Il pleure dans mons coeur, Mandoline


La Flûte de Pan, Maggie Teyte, Alfred Cortot


Elly Ameling, Dalton Baldwin



Claire Croiza: mezzo-soprano Francis Poulenc: piano Recorded: June 1928



Elizabeth Schwarzkopf, soprano, pianist, not listed


More Debussy, with Debussy at the piano, Mary Garden singing:

Green HERE

Il pleure dans mon coeur HERE

L'ombre des arbres HERE

27 comments:

  1. Swarzkopf is one of my favorite performers. I appreciate the way she treats this "melodie". Effortless, yet playful and vivid. I feel like she really plays the "mandolin" with her voice and she adds a different color to each phrase with dinamics. Excellent!

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  2. It was interesting to discover this piece again. I loved the different interpretation and color of the mezzo soprano. How strange and wonderful it is that Poulenc playing the piano?! What a wonderful music and poem.

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  3. Ameling's voice has so much depth! A very large palette of colors to choose from. I love her sound on "C'est la resemble". Dalton Baldwin's playing is so elegant as well. I like how controlled they stay during this song.

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  4. I adore Ameling's voice, an instrument with great variation and earnestness, but I found the visual element of her performance of C'est l'extase painfully boring. Am I allowed to say that? As I watched the video, her performance struck me as completely devoid of any sense of the poem's vivid imagery. I'm not saying I have a specific idea of what she should have done, but I felt that something was plainly missing. I'd definitely buy the CD rather than the DVD of that performance.

    It was lovely to hear Croiza and Poulenc. Especially interesting was the middle of the piece (quoi, nulle trahison?), in which the ensemble maintained much more movement than I am used to. This was effective though, and it created a smooth, even journey through the song from beginning to end. I especially loved her subtle portamento into her final note of the piece.

    Listening to Schwarzkopf sing is always thrilling for me, there's just no better way to put it. I have so much trust in and respect for her when it comes to her musical and poetic interpretation as well as her vocal choices. Mandoline is no exception here, as she incorporates a fantastic range of colors, maintaining such a subtle, excited tone.

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  5. To offer a differnt opinion than Catherine's regarding the visual element of Ms. Ameling's performance, I very much appreciated her "lack" of doing "stuff." For me when a singer (or pianist) gesticulates about too much it becomes highly distracting. Here, what she did was very subtle, but I thought her facial expressions communicated very well her intentions (and of course, and more importantly, the sound communicated the meaning and "imagery").

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  6. I agree Michael. Sowwy Catherine! She made the performance with her voice as did Baldwin with his playing.

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  7. ok, let's all take sides! It's far more fun that way! I'm siding with Catherine, in that Ameling's visual presentation left something to be desired. I believe that it is important for the performer to communicate the sentiments of the song to the fullest extent possible. It is not enough to just sing with beautiful tone and expressive inflections. Unless it is a cd recording session, we should be able to see the sentiments of the song in the singer's face and body. This is NOT to say that the singer should be "doing lots of stuff" (I agree with Michael that such superfluous movements can be distracting), but rather, the singer should move in a natural way that honestly conveys the mood of the piece.

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  8. I'm going to take a third side and simply defend Ameling's performance from the standpoint of performance practice at that time. I believe, at the time of this performance, that the usual practice was just to get up and sing the piece using the expressiveness of the voice through the mere mechanics of the vocal apparatus, that being the entire body engaged in phonation. I think that movement in art song is a relatively new concept and therefore should not really be applied to this performance. I do think that she shows much of the meaning in her face without using the rest of her body. In some ways, I think that a lot of movement in the body during art song creates a new medium in which the mind is split in more directions because the mind is now following music, words, and physical movement.

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  9. Poulenc's playing is really incredible. I love his merging of tempi. The little recit. section in the middle of the piece stays much more in line with the incessant rain than it does if you slow down too much. He really makes those sixteenth notes flow seamlessly.

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  10. It will be interesting to hear the comparison of Faure's Mandoline to Debussy's. It is easy, at least to me, to see why Debussy is considered to be such a move forward from Faure! There is simply less tonal center in
    Debussy and yet you never feel like you are moving in and out of keys because there's not really too many solid key areas either.

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  11. I like this recording of Mandoline much better than the one I have heard by Fisher-Dieskau. The tempo marking feels like more of a suggestion than anything, and he takes it quite literally. At this slower speed you can hear Debussy's great melody line, which I enjoy a lot more than just trying to take a piece as fast as humanly possible.

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  12. What strikes me most is how both Teyte and Croiza use the language. Each word is so clear, yet the phrasing and the overall flow of the pieces never stops. I love the way they treat the consonants. Their expression is so clear and colorful. Both Cortot and Poulenc add to the vocal expression. They complete the whole. Cortot's playing seems magical, like he's tapped into the mystery world of Pan. I really appreciate these older recordings. There's much food for thoughts.

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  13. I see I'm 'no name', have to fix that, Annika.

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  14. I have to agree with Derek in that the Ameling performance was not only stunning, but breathless and innovative for the time. I actually watched this several times to see if I could "see" the expressiveness and another time to listen only to the recording to hear if I could "hear" the expressivity without the visual. Both were awesome. She demonstrates the appropriate expressivity in the body and in the voice for the melodie genre. What a nice model to reference.

    La Flute de Pan is such a fun piece to listen to always! I simply LOVE the opening with the flute in the right hand of the accompanist. Thanks for posting that for us!

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  15. While it is great that we have a recording of Poulenc accompanying, he actually was not a very good pianist. There is a video on youtube of Poulenc and Fevrier performing Poulenc's Two Piano Concerto. What I do love about his playing which is so "old school" is that he doesn't let ANYTHING get in the way of what he's trying to convey in a piece, or in this case Ii Pleure. His articulation creates an image of raindrops very different than what you might think of the stereotype of playing Debussy: a wash and a blur with clarity not being at the foreground

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  16. Okay, so I’m going to jump in on the Ameling discussion! I’m not sure that I’m the best person to be giving an opinion on this (since I tend to be a still performer as well), but here it goes….
    For me, this is kind of a tough call. I think, as far as gestures go, it should be taken on a song-by-song basis. Some songs need a more active performance to come to life, while others are bogged down by too much activity. If it adds to the music and assists in its realization, I think it’s great; anything that distracts from the music kind of defeats the purpose.
    I think part of what makes “C’est l’extase” such an exquisite piece is the near-stillness and vagueness of the music. In this respect, Ameling gave a beautiful performance. She wasn’t completely still, but kept visual distractions to a minimum. She DOES start to subtly move on “C’est la nôtre, n’est-ce pas?”- there are no gestures, but her body becomes more involved and active. Plus, her face was very expressive and appropriate for the piece. For me, that’s all I really needed. If she had been that still during a performance of “Chevaux de bois,” I might have been annoyed, but a song like this doesn’t need any visual aids. Ameling let the music speak for itself, and I found that really refreshing.

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  17. Unfortunately the only video available was C'est l'extase. I find the piano accompaniment in this piece to be very interesting. It is striking the way the singer's first phrase begins a capella. The irregular rhythm of the accompaniment makes it feel as if it can't quite get going--as if without energy--while the legato vocal line expresses the ecstasy.The falling chromatic passages which begin with "Cela ressemble cri doux..." have such a listless character. Even after the singer has moved on to a new idea the piano continues with the descending chromatic movement. I loved the way that Ameling really sung into the harmonies. This piece is all about the harmony!

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  18. I agree with Beverly, the harmony in this song is a very prominent characteristic.

    Debussy was fond of using sequences of parallel dominant chords (with added 7th and/or 9th), and this song is no exception. Since these chords are put one besides another without their logic "tonic resolution", instead of the "tension" feeling they usually produce in tonal music, here they give to the music this "floating", "suspended" quality, which we so often hear in Debussy.

    About the discussion of Ameling's performance, I do agree with Emily Nelson, this song does not require lots of visual stimuli, so it didn't bother me that she had a more still standing while performing.

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  19. After listening to C'est l'extase, I took a listen to Debussy's recordings of him playing his music. It was interesting to hear how he played his music different to how they are often interpreted today. When I hear his music I characterize it with long, flowing lines with a lot of fluidity. When Debussy played his pieces they had much more pointed rhythms and clarity.

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  20. La Flûte de Pan, Maggie Teyte, Alfred Cortot
    The piano imitates a flute, creating a free flowing rhythm between the piano and voice, but it’s deceiving because the rhythm is notated precisely. Teyte’s pure tone complements the text and overall mood. The accompaniment gets more haunting as the piece progresses and Debussy’s use of rhythm and chordal progression exhibits his mature musical style.

    C’est l’extase, Elly Ameling, Dalton Baldwin
    This is one of my favorite Debussy songs. The beautiful line and nostalgic grace of the connection between the piano and vocal lines is so well refined and elegantly set. Elly Ameling handles this piece with restrained power, giving life to the words and caresses the harmonies of the piano. I liked Ameling’s choice of stillness because she allowed for the music to transcend through her body and maintained beautiful legato.

    Il pleure dans mon coeur, Dawn Upshaw
    Endless fervor. The consistency of the piano line gives an unending feeling to this piece, which reflects the restless and melancholy feeling of the poet.

    Mandoline, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf
    I sang Faure’s version of Mandoline last year and after comparing the two pieces, I have a better understanding of Faure’s version since listening to Debussy’s. The Commedia dell’arte characters are more pronounced in Debussy’s and the lighthearted buoyancy of the piece paints a colorful atmosphere.

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  21. Brooklyn, how did you find those videos? They didn't work for me.

    I love what Elly Ameling does with "C'est l'extase." It simply floats, and she draws us in with her use of her instrument and of the language. I almost wonder if the multiple camera angles aren't distracting here; if we were seeing it live, I think it would appear far more captivating, but the moving camera distracts me from the music and the stillness of the piece.

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  22. I think Brookyn just went hunting and found it elsewhere:
    GO HERE

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  23. C'est l'extase:

    Attention to transparency and texture of line. She sings this beautiful text so sensuously, caressing each word. She and the pianist create a heady atmosphere in this song—reading the poem while simultaneously listening is…magical and almost graphic in content. I love it. How personal! How accurate Debussy is of depicting these urges, feelings, and sensations. I am more in awe of his contribution to this performance than Ms. Ameling, though she is superb and never strays into obscene or tasteless.

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  24. Green:

    I do not love this recording of Debussy’s ‘Green’. I’m almost positive this is due in part of the quality of the recording, but I feel like the tempo is a little too fast and does not have enough rubato for my tastes. I feel that there is very little stretch and sensuality—which I need with a text like this. The line, to me, was not beautifully caressed or communicated with grace.

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  25. I am intrigued by the fact that Debussy's piano writing requires, nay, demands a unique touch that places it on a different realm from other piano music: feathery weight at the finger tips, suppleness of the wrists, suspended upper arms extending from the shoulders, sensitive ears for pedaling, nuance in tone and voicing.... Listening to a finely performed French song by a vocalist whose deep sensitivities to the French poetry and language -- it makes sense. The "Sarabande" from Debussy's "Pour le piano" or his preludes "Bruyères" and "Voiles" are perfect examples. I believe strongly that a pianist must listen to French songs, even listening to French poetry being read by a native speaker, before approaching Debussy's piano music. One may argue that this is also true with piano music by composers from different languages, but the intimate connection between the French language and the "piano touch" is more apparent in French piano music in general, and Debussy's piano music in particular. And have a nice day.

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  26. The performance of "Chansons de Bilitis" by Teyte/Corto is just exquisite. Here is an example of the marriage between the French language and the nuances of the piano writing. The interpretation of Teyte, an English native who specialized in French art songs, and the touch of Cortot, a pianist born in a French speaking part of Switzerland, exemplify the intimacy between Debussy's piano setting and the French language. Listening to just the opening gesture on the piano by Cortot of "La flûte de Pan," is already an indication that you're in for a treat in French music.

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  27. Debussy is an innovator, but the singers performing the melodies bring out a variety of colors. The sensuousness of the ensemble is intriguing. The melodies don't sound far removed from the late Romantic period but one can tell that Debussy was working on a completely new idea that couldn't be defined simply as chromaticism. It all comes down to nuance.

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