Les Nuits d'ete

[knight66]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJzvqX_phcE

Here is a chance. Even the French comments seem to be positive.

Mike

[kishnevi]

Anyone have an opinion regarding Brigitte Balleys conducted by Herreweghe?  (coupled with Mireille Delunsch singing Herminie). 

[knight66]

Yes, I swallowed the hype and eagerly bought the disc. To my ears the vocal quality of Balleys is shrill and acidic. I cannot understand the praise her recording received.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhiQccKRiyY&feature=related

However, I know people hear voices differently. She certainly gets the style right and it there is plenty subtly there. If you can get to grips with the voice, the recording holds lots of quality, especially in the conducting.

I junked the disc.

Mike

[mjwal]

Thank you so much for the Janet Baker YouTube link: wonderful, to see her singing is a lesson in itself. I think she has deepened her interpretation here, it is perfect.
I just keep forgetting what a resource YouTube is. Why bother to buy CDs, when one can find such great performances for free here and elsewhere on the net?
I never saw JB live in concert - but I first heard her when she sang Dido's lament on TV back in the late 60s, before I moved to Germany - overwhelming. Alas, neither the Lewis recording nor the later one by Thingummy reached that level.

[knight66]

I am glad you enjoyed it; there is a lot of her on Youtube.....in bits of course. I still much prefer to have my CDs, not only for the continuity of the longer pieces, but because my internet connection slows down to a stop when traffic is heavy.

But it certainly is a treasure house.

Mike

[Tsaraslondon]

I am glad you enjoyed it; there is a lot of her on Youtube.....in bits of course. I still much prefer to have my CDs, not only for the continuity of the longer pieces, but because my internet connection slows down to a stop when traffic is heavy.

But it certainly is a treasure house.

Mike

And in fact the whole of that performance of Les Nuits d'Ete is available on youtube, even if you have to listen to access it song by song. Her Absence is, if anything, even more wonderful than Le spectre de la rose, so intense and so full of yearning.

[jochanaan]

I have all three of Baker's version, and heard her live several times...

I am sooooo envious!!

[kishnevi]

Yes, I swallowed the hype and eagerly bought the disc. To my ears the vocal quality of Balleys is shrill and acidic. I cannot understand the praise her recording received.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhiQccKRiyY&feature=related

However, I know people hear voices differently. She certainly gets the style right and it there is plenty subtly there. If you can get to grips with the voice, the recording holds lots of quality, especially in the conducting.

I junked the disc.

Mike

I made a point of listening to this today.   I did notice what the vocal quality you call shrill and acidic, but it didn't bother me enough to have a negative effect.

[knight66]

Which is fine. There are very few voices that satisfy all of us.

Mike

[Tsaraslondon]

Reviving this thread as it looks like there is another must have version available. Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra under Nicholas McGegan.

I'm listening now on spotify and first impressions are that this is one of the best versions around. As usual, Hunt Lieberson engages totally with the music and the poetry. I would rate it very highly, up there with the Baker/Giulini (also live) as one of the best available.

[kishnevi]

Reviving this thread as it looks like there is another must have version available. Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra under Nicholas McGegan.

I'm listening now on spotify and first impressions are that this is one of the best versions around. As usual, Hunt Lieberson engages totally with the music and the poetry. I would rate it very highly, up there with the Baker/Giulini (also live) as one of the best available.

I just ordered it last night--Arkivmusic has it on sale this weekend--and Lieberson is for me one of those musicians who seemed incapable of doing anything less than a great performance.

[Mandryka]

I've had the Hunt  Lieberson record for a few weeks now and it's very good.

No surprises there!

I expect you have all heard her Lied von der Erde -- if not let me know if you want it.

[Tsaraslondon]

I expect you have all heard her Lied von der Erde -- if not let me know if you want it.

No I haven't, but I'd like to.

[mjwal]

No I haven't, but I'd like to.

Moi aussi.

[knight66]

Some time ago I decided I did not NEED another Nuits d'ete......but I want it; so I have ordered Hunt Lieberson. I hope more material from her continues to surface.

Mike

[Brian]

A few months ago I bought the Veronique Gens recording but haven't yet listened to it. Now that we're really having summer nights in London - last night I was kept up for hours sweating atop the covers* - maybe it's time to really focus on this work. 

Lorraine Hunt Lieberson

Say no more! And on Spotify?!

*Because of the heat, sillies.

[zamyrabyrd]

And in fact the whole of that performance of Les Nuits d'Ete is available on youtube, even if you have to listen to access it song by song. Her Absence is, if anything, even more wonderful than Le spectre de la rose, so intense and so full of yearning.

Au cimetière (1972) is awfully fast and the orchestra is not very subtle either. I like Anne Sofie von Otter in this particular song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOdpgq2Ny28&feature=related

I have an LP of Kiri of the whole cylce somewhere that is very nice.  I don't find Bailley's voice acidic, in fact, having quite a range of colour, full without being heavy. She does the Villanelle in the lower key although she can soar up to a G without any trouble in the L'île inconnue.

ZB

[Tsaraslondon]

Au cimetière (1972) is awfully fast and the orchestra is not very subtle either. I like Anne Sofie von Otter in this particular song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOdpgq2Ny28&feature=related

I have an LP of Kiri of the whole cylce somewhere that is very nice.  I don't find Bailley's voice acidic, in fact, having quite a range of colour, full without being heavy. She does the Villanelle in the lower key although she can soar up to a G without any trouble in the L'île inconnue.

ZB

It's a funny thing about speeds. Hunt Lieberson's version is 5'47" and Otter's 5'45", so there's actually not that much difference, and I think the speed of both versions is just about right. In fact most of the versions I know come out around that speed, including Baker with Giulini, Crespin with Ansermet, Frank Patterson on Davis's multi singer version, David Daniels with John Nelson and Steber with Mitropoulos. The shortest version I came across is Baker with Blomstedt on youtube (4'30"), which does sound a little fast, and the longest Baker with Barbirolli at 6'09". Baker's version with Hickox is just over 5'. I suppose this shows that Baker was able to adapt readily to her conductor and was always able to take a fresh look at a piece she sang on many occasions.

My favourite would still be Baker with Giulini, but I do like this Hunt Lieberson version. There is an immediacy about her singing, like that of Baker, which communicates directly with the listener. Von Otter's beautifully sung version is more generalised and conveys less of the poetry to me.

[zamyrabyrd]

It's a funny thing about speeds. Hunt Lieberson's version is 5'47" and Otter's 5'45", so there's actually not that much difference, and I think the speed of both versions is just about right. In fact most of the versions I know come out around that speed, including Baker with Giulini, Crespin with Ansermet, Frank Patterson on Davis's multi singer version, David Daniels with John Nelson and Steber with Mitropoulos. The shortest version I came across is Baker with Blomstedt on youtube (4'30"), which does sound a little fast, and the longest Baker with Barbirolli at 6'09". Baker's version with Hickox is just over 5'. I suppose this shows that Baker was able to adapt readily to her conductor and was always able to take a fresh look at a piece she sang on many occasions.

My favourite would still be Baker with Giulini, but I do like this Hunt Lieberson version. There is an immediacy about her singing, like that of Baker, which communicates directly with the listener. Von Otter's beautifully sung version is more generalised and conveys less of the poetry to me.

Ach, I should have made myself clearer - I was quoting from your post of a year ago about Janet Baker.  The 4'30" one with Blomstedt was the one I was referring to. It's interesting that she did Au cimetière two minutes longer with Barbirolli. The latter should sound just about right to me, otherwise there is not time to register the change of harmonies, from major to minor and back again. 

The pacing here is good with Gencer, just a little over 6 minutes. This was live, so maybe the recording conditions and the voice itself that day were not optimal.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIcmHlLdg-o&feature=related

Quite a bit of feeling here with Horne (1964) but not a lot of diction (pre Henry Lewis):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNZeel3Ze6g&feature=related

Of the three listed here, I prefer the clear voice of Eleanor Steber:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8umUPmSIKY8&feature=related

ZB

[Tsaraslondon]

The pacing here is good with Gencer, just a little over 6 minutes. This was live, so maybe the recording conditions and the voice itself that day were not optimal.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIcmHlLdg-o&feature=related

Quite a bit of feeling here with Horne (1964) but not a lot of diction (pre Henry Lewis):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNZeel3Ze6g&feature=related

Of the three listed here, I prefer the clear voice of Eleanor Steber:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8umUPmSIKY8&feature=related

ZB

The Gencer i didn't take to at all, the voice far too wobbly and acidic. It was a relief to turn to the firmer voice of Horne, but, as you say, the diction is poor, and what emotion there is seems generalised to me, lacking the specificity brought to it by Baker and Hunt Lieberson.

The Steber I have known and loved for years. Her legato is impeccable and she responds keenly to the poetry in the music.  Indeed, David Cairns, the Berlioz scholar, writing in Alan Blyth's Song On Record, Vol 2 places this and the Baker/Barbirolli (the Baker/Giulini was not available at the time) at the top of his list of successful recordings of "Les Nuis d'Ete"

When it comes to the famous Crespin/Ansermet recording, I find that here too I am in agreement with David Cairns. Like him, I find much of her singing detached and lacking in spontaneity.