French Opera Arias

French Opera Arias
📅 Released	1976
Studio	Henry Wood Hall, London
⏳ Length	51:33
Language	French
🏷️ Label	CBS Masterworks
🤑 Producer	Paul Myers
French Opera Arias
Sony CD: SMK 60527 Sony CD: SMK 60527

Buy this album French Opera Arias or listen to it on amazon

Frederica von Stade: French Opera Arias is a 51-minute studio album of music performed by von Stade and the London Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of John Pritchard. It was released in 1976.

Recording

The album was recorded using analogue technology in the Henry Wood Hall, London, on 4, 8 and 10 January 1976.

Packaging

The cover of LP version of the album was designed under the art direction of Allen Weinberg, and features a photograph of von Stade by Clive Barda on the front of the sleeve and an image of Paris's Palais Garnier on the back. The cover of the CD version features a photograph of von Stade by Valerie Clement.

Critical reception

Reviews

Jules Massenet. Von Stade's discography includes complete recordings of his operas Cendrillon, Chérubin and Werther.

J. B. Steane reviewed the album in Gramophone in July 1976. The problem, he wrote, was simply how to convey von Stade's excellence in temperate language. Certainly this was the most exciting first solo recital by a singer in years, and he fancied it would take its place among that select number that were to be cherished, learnt by heart, and used as a touchstone. The timbre was fresh, unmarked by vibrato, and showed no tendency to shrillness. The voice remained perfectly homogeneous, beautifully controlled. Her style was charming, aristocratic and imaginative, her diction clear, her expression vivid and sensitive. The "nobles seigneurs" could hardly fail to take notice of such a greeting, so brilliant in its courtly flourishes. The waltz lilted with beguiling delicacy. The song from Roméo et Juliette was also for a page, making all the more impressive the serious tenderness and urgency of the solo from Béatrice et Bénédict which followed. A most moving passage, this, as touching in its way as the more famous aria from La damnation de Faust; both were sung with admirable sensitivity to the changing feelings as well as with ravishing tone. In Werther, as in other items, she showed an exquisite feeling for portamento. In Mignon and Cendrillon she lived the parts. Finally, there were the two Offenbach songs, the Périchole swaying dangerously with her champagne and spilling never a drop. Nothing clouded the success of this recital. No doubt everybody in the studio had responded to something in the enchantment of the singer's art.

Steane revisited the album in Gramophone in October 1976. Von Stade's solo recital endeared itself further with every playing, he wrote. She was a marvellously sure stylist, irresistibly idiomatic for instance in the song from Offenbach's La grande Duchesse, and achieving a fine intensity of passion and grief in "D'amour l'ardente flame".

George Jellinek reviewed the album in Stereo Review in February 1977. With her clear and pointed diction, he wrote, von Stade revealed a natural affinity for the French repertoire, interpreting all the music on this disc to virtual perfection. He found conductor John Pritchard's pacing a shade too leisurely at times, but the orchestral playing was beautiful and it was reproduced in ideally balanced rich sound.

Music Magazine reported that the album was "a bestseller and elicited enthusiastic response internationally". According to an unnamed reporter profiling von Stade for Time on 13 December 1976, the album showcased "a lustrous amber mezzo-soprano voice with an unusually sweet crystalline top and seemingly effortless agility".

David Shengold revisited the album in Opera News in December 2016, writing that "the elegant French Opera Arias with John Pritchard" was a "must-have": "even Gounod's Stéphano sounds stellar".

Accolades

The album was awarded a Grand Prix du Disque in 1976, and first prize in the High Fidelity/International Record Critics Awards of 1977. J. B. Steane included the album in his 1976 Gramophone Critic's Choice list of the best recordings of the year.

CD track listing

Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791 - 1864)

• 1 (4:53) Nobles seigneurs, salut! (from Les Huguenots)

Charles Gounod (1818 - 1893)

• 2 (5:17) Depuis hier je cherche en vain (from Roméo et Juliette)

Hector Berlioz (1803 - 1869)

• 3 (10:33) Dieu! Que viens-je d'entendre...Il m'en souvient (from Béatrice et Bénédict)

Jules Massenet (1842 - 1912)

• 4 (3:06) Va! Laisse couler mes larmes (from Werther)

Jacques Offenbach (1819 - 1880)

• 5 (2:08) Ah! Quel diner je viens de faire (from La Périchole)

Jules Massenet

• 6 (6:26) Enfin, je suis ici (from Cendrillon)

Hector Berlioz

• 7 (10:18) D'amour l'ardente flamme (from La Damnation de Faust)

Ambroise Thomas (1811 - 1896)

• 8 (5:33) Connais-tu le pays (from Mignon)

Jacques Offenbach

• 9 (3:16) Dites-lui qu'on l'a remarqué (from La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein)

Personnel

Musical

• Frederica von Stade, mezzo-soprano
• London Philharmonic Orchestra
• John Pritchard, conductor

Other

• Paul Myers, producer
• Robert Auger, engineer

Release history

On 4 October 1976, CBS Masterworks released the album on LP (catalogue number M 34206) with an insert with notes, texts and translations. The album was also issued on cassette.

In 1998, Sony issued the album on CD (catalogue number SMK 60527) with a 20-page booklet including texts and translations and a memoir by von Stade. In 2012, Sony reissued the album on CD in their 2-CD collection Frederica von Stade: Musique Française (catalogue number 88691932202).. In 2016, Sony again reissued the album on CD (in a miniature replica of the sleeve of the original LP) with a 52-page booklet in their 18-CD collection Frederica von Stade: The Complete Columbia Recital Albums (catalogue number 88875183412).

Note

Strictly speaking, this album's aria from La damnation de Faust should not be described as operatic. Although Berlioz's work has been adapted for the stage, he intended his légende dramatique for the concert hall, not the theatre.

References

This article "French Opera Arias" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:French Opera Arias. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

This page exists already on Wikipedia.