Douce France (CD)

This is the first solo song album by the French tenor Benjamin Bernheim. He imaginatively couples famous mélodies by three leading lights of 19th-century French Romanticism with famous chansons by three leading lights of 20th-century French popular music. Benjamin is accompanied by his long-standing recital partner Carrie-Ann Matheson. Deutsche Grammophon presents the first solo song album by the French tenor Benjamin Bernheim.

Included are the great song cycles by Berlioz (Les nuits d’été) and Chausson (Poème de l’amour et de la mer) and Joseph Kosma’s haunting song Les feuilles mortes (Autumn Leaves) as well as Charles Trenet’s famous Douce France.

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Benjamin Bernheim writes:

‘Some of the works on this programme have been with me for a very long time. While I was working on other aspects of lieder and mélodies, exchanging ideas with musicologist friends, and immersing myself in the recorded legacy, a rather different picture gradually started to emerge. The Berlioz and Chausson cycles share the fact that they were conceived, entirely or in part, for a tenor voice, and composed for, and in fact first performed by one, at the piano, before being orchestrated and associated with a woman’s voice. Without calling this evolution into question, I was nevertheless keen to get back to the mood of extreme intimacy that keyboard accompaniment allows for. This music is brimming with nuances whose subtlety and poetry are powerfully evocative.

‘To be honest, I might not have had the courage to embark on this adventure if I hadn’t had Carrie-Ann Matheson as my partner. She is one of the greatest vocal coaches of her generation, and I’ve had the good fortune of preparing a number of my roles with her at the Zurich Opera House. In a totally natural way she has become my regular recital partner, and when the management of Deutsche Grammophon heard us together in Verbier performing the works on this disc, they immediately understood that I should record them with her.'

TRACK LIST

BERLIOZ: Les nuits d’été, H81, Op. 7
CHAUSSON: Poème de l’amour et de la mer, Op. 19
DUPARC: L’invitation au voyage; Extase; Phidylé; La vie antérieure
KOSMA: Les feuilles mortes
TRENET: Douce France
BREL: Quand on n’a que l’amour

ARTISTS
Benjamin Bernheim, tenor
Carrie-Ann Matheson, piano