Véronique Gens, Münchner Rundfunkorchester & Hervé Niquet - Visions (2017) [Official Digital Download 24/96]

After an album of French songs (Néère, Alpha 215) that earned her a Gramophone Award in 2016, Veronique Gens presents her new recital, this time with orchestra, which gives her an opportunity to display the maturity of her Falcon soprano, the central tessitura typical of French Romantic opera, which takes its name from Cornélie Falcon, who created the works of Meyerbeer and Halévy staged in the 1830s.

She pays tribute here to a number of composers whose unknown operas she was the first to reveal in projects mounted by the Palazzetto Bru Zane (which also coproduced the present recording), including David, Godard, Saint-Saëns and Halévy. The programme selects arias from all the genres in vogue in the Romantic era: opera (Saint-Saëns, Halévy, Godard, Février), opéra-comique (David), oratorio (Franck, Massenet) and the cantata for the Prix de Rome (Bizet, Bruneau). A nod to Wagner and his Tannhäuser in its French translation of the 1860s completes this programme conducted by a longstanding colleague of the soprano, one of the leading specialists in French music, Hervé Niquet.

TRACKLIST
1 Geneviève: Introduction, récitatif et air de Geneviève "Seigneur ! Est-ce bien moi que vous avez choisie ?" 06:28
2 Les Béatitudes: Mater dolorosa "Moi, du sauveur, je suis la mère" 03:20
3 Stradella: Récit et air de Léonor "Ah !… Quel songe affreux !" 05:46
4 Les Guelfes, Op. 70: Prélude et air de Jeanne "Là-bas, vers le palais" 08:12
5 Lalla-Roukh: Air de Lalla-Roukh "Sous le feuillage sombre" 02:59
6 Gismonda: Air de Gismonda "Dit-elle vrai ?" 04:46
7 Etienne Marcel: Récit et air de Béatrix "Ah ! Laissez-moi, ma mère !" 05:04
8 La Vierge: Le dernier sommeil de la Vierge 02:55
9 La Vierge: Extase de la Vierge "Rêve infini, divine extase" 05:03
10 La Magicienne: Récit et air de Blanche "Ce sentier nous conduit vers le couvent voisin" 05:35
11 Clovis et Clotilde: Prière de Clotilde "Prière, ô doux souffle de l’ange !" 02:16
12 Rédemption: Air de l’Archange "Le flot se lève" 03:17

PERSONNEL
Véronique Gens (soprano)
Münchner Rundfunkorchester
Hervé Niquet (director)