Messiaen: Trois mélodies; Vocalise étude; Poèmes pour Mi; Chants de terre et de ciel; Harawi
Published:
COMPOSERS: Messiaen
LABELS: Brilliant
ALBUM TITLE: Messiaen – songs
WORKS: Trois mélodies; Vocalise étude; Poèmes pour Mi; Chants de terre et de ciel; Harawi
PERFORMER: Ingrid Kappelle (soprano)
Håkon Austbø (piano)
CATALOGUE NO: 7448
Messiaen’s songs are probably the
least well-known area of his output,
yet, in many ways, they are the most
remarkable. All three great cycles,
Poèmes pour Mi, Chants de terre et
de ciel, and Harawi, were inspired
by his passionate love for his first
wife, Claire Delbos. They represent
the composer at his most intimately
personal, conveying tenderness
and ardent fire by turns, with often
surreal imagery matched by music
that shows scant regard for the
niceties of a song recital.
Marcelle Bunlet, a reputed
Wagnerian who gave the first
performances of each cycle, was
Messiaen’s favoured singer, and they
can be heard in a live, poorly recorded
account of Harawi (INA). Ingrid
Kappelle comes closest of modern
singers to matching Messiaen’s ideal, with a full-bodied, powerful
voice, whilst her ability to convey
the quietest hush is extraordinary.
In ‘Dans le noir’, the final song of
Harawi, she seems to disappear
into the realm of the stars. Her
ace, though, is Håkon Austbø. He
has recorded all of Messiaen’s solo
piano music, an experience reflected
throughout in terms of touch, colour
and tempo. Kappelle’s pronunciation
is occasionally quirky, and if not
always as incisive as Jane Manning’s
rightly lauded accounts (Regis), she
is more rounded and never mundane.
The three early songs and the usually
overlooked Vocalise etude are also
included to make this a thoroughly
desirable set. Christopher Dingle