ATMA Celebrates Olivier Messiaen’s 100th Birthday with A New Recording of Chants de Terre et de Ciel Featuring Soprano Suzie Leblanc
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On September 30, the Montreal-based label ATMA-Classique releases the latest recording featur
ing renowned soprano Suzie LeBlanc, devoted to songs by Olivier Messiaen. Works featured include the1938 song cycle Chants de terre et de ciel, as well as Trois melodies (1930); La mort du nombre, a cantata for soprano, tenor, violin and piano, (1930); Vocalise (1935); and Thème et variations pour violon et piano (1932).Chants de terre et de ciel marks a recording departure for Ms. LeBlanc, who is best-known for her superb performances of Baroque and early music, as well as Acadian songs (she is a native of Edmundston, New Brunswick). In addition to her musical activities, Ms. LeBlanc recently made her dramatic film debut at the Toronto International Film Festival in Rodrigue Jeans’ The Lost Song. She already has been the subject of two documentaries: Suzie LeBlanc: A musical quest, directed by Donald Winkler, and Suzie LeBlanc and a man named Quantz, directed by the late Robert Chesterman (Prometheus Productions).
Other featured artists include American-born tenor Lawrence Williford, a graduate of the University of Toronto and the Canadian Opera Company’s prestigious Ensemble Studio; Laura Andriani, the first violinist of the Alcan Quartet since 2003; and pianist Robert Kortgaard, one of the most sought-after vocal accompanists in Canada today.
The Messiaen works on this recording are from the composer’s first creative period, before his reputation had spread beyond France. This music is closely associated with a period of great personal happiness in Messiaen’s private life-his marriage to his first wife, the violinist and composer Claire Delbos (1906-1958). It was for Delbos that Messiaen composed the Thème et variations (1932) for violin and piano; she also inspired the two song cycles Poèmes pour Mi and Chants de terre et de ciel, composed between 1936 and 1938. The Trois mélodies from 1930 honor the composer’s mother, the poet Cécile Sauvage.
The dramatic cantata La mort du nombre is unusual for Messiaen; it is the only work before his opera Saint-François d’Assise to use a male soloist. While it evokes the French tradition of dramatic opera, the dialogue between two souls also alludes to Bach cantatas. The music is also influenced by Massenet and by Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande.
ALSO FROM ATMA IN SEPTEMBER:
Les Violons du Roy are a Canadian national treasure. Outside Quebec, the group had built its reputation performing music from before 1800 until they released their acclaimed ATMA album Piazzolla. Under conductor Jean-Marie Zeitouni, Les Violons du Roy’s surprising shift of style was a complete success: the album won the Juno Award as Best Classical Album of the Year (solo or chamber ensemble) and has been added to regular playlists of both public and commercial radio.
For this new recording, Artistic Director Yoav Talmi again leads the OSQ in a program of transcriptions, this time of works by J.S. Bach. In addition to Stokowski’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor, Talmi has selected an unusual group of transcriptions by Walton, Elgar, Holst, and even Webern and Respighi.
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