On September 30, the Montreal-based label ATMA-Classique releases the latest recording featuring 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.
ATMA-Classique releases the latest recording by acclaimed early and Baroque music ensemble Les Voix Humaines, entitled William Lawes: The Harp Consorts (ATMA-Classique ACD2 2372). For this recording, Les Voix regulars-gambists Susie Napper and Margaret Little-collaborate with renowned harpist Maxine Eilander, American lutenist Stephen Stubbs (co-artistic director of the Boston Early Music Festival and founder of the Seattle Academy of Baroque Opera), and American-born Canadian violinist David Greenberg, who spent 10 years performing with the Toronto-based Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and Chamber Choir.
The 11 consorts by William Lawes “for the Harp, Bass Viol, Violin and Theorbo” are known collectively as “The Harp Consorts.” This creative collection occupies a unique niche in music history, with no exact precedent, and, through the catastrophic interruption of the English Civil War, no descendants whatsoever. That war not only ended the brilliant musical circle that had assembled at the court of Charles the First for which these works were conceived, but also ended the lives of Charles and Lawes himself at the siege of Chester in 1645. This is the first complete recording of Lawes’ Harp Consorts. It is the specificity of the instrumentation and the inventive and idiomatic writing for each voice, combined with Lawes’ intensely personal, expressive and quirky musical language, that make the collection a unique treasure.
Maxine Eilander was born in Holland, grew up in South Africa, and now lives in Seattle. She plays on a range of early harps: the Italian arpa doppia, the Spanish cross-strung harp, the German ‘Davidsharfe’, the Welsh triple harp, and the single action pedal harp. Eilander has appeared as a soloist with many ensembles, including Teatro Lirico, Tragicomedia, Tafelmusik, The Toronto Consort, The Sixteen, and Seattle Baroque. She is managing director of the Seattle Academy of Baroque Opera, where she teaches harp.
After a 30-year career in Europe, Stephen Stubbs recently returned to his native Seattle to establish his new opera company Pacific Operaworks. David Greenberg taught himself folk fiddle tunes by ear as a young child growing up in Maryland. He spent the ‘90s performing and recording with Tafelmusik while developing a specialty in Scottish Baroque-folk music and has recorded several CDs in this genre, including the groundbreaking Bach meets Cape Breton.
Susie Napper and Margaret Little have thrilled audiences with their performances of exotic masterpieces of the 17th and 18th centuries for the past two decades. Les Voix Humaines are renowned for their spectacular arrangements of a wide variety of music for two viols, as well as their brilliant performances of contemporary music commissioned by the duo. Their Montreal concert season offers a unique opportunity for an international array of instrumentalists and singers to explore unusual repertoire that includes virtuoso viols. The duo is regularly joined by some of Montreal’s finest young gambists to form the Voix Humaines Consort, which specializes in the vast 17th-century repertoire for viol consort. Les Voix Humaines has recorded over 20 CDs on the ATMA, Naxos, and CBC Records labels, several of which have received critical acclaim and prizes.
Naxos releases a new recording on ATMA-Classique by the acclaimed Montréal-based ensemble Constantinople. Ay!! Amor… Songs of Love and Songs of Women is a mosaic of love songs from Persia (modern-day Iran), Armenia, Turkey, Spain, and France and features the renowned Franco-Moroccan singer Françoise Atlan, whose own Judeo-Berber roots impart a deep affinity for Mediterranean singing traditions. She performs with the Persian members of Constantinople - Kiya Tabassian, master setar player; Ziya Tabassian, percussion; and Saeed Kamjoo, kamâncheh (a bowed string instrument).
Ay!! Amor… is the result of a rich ongoing collaboration between Constantinople and Françoise Atlan. Most of the pieces are drawn from Persian, Judeo-Spanish, Iberian, and French trouvère traditions; others are new creations by Constantinople and Ms. Atlan. Ay!! Amor… combines aspects of diverse cultures and musical modes to create a new concert experience that defies easy categorization.
Born in France to a Sephardic Jewish family in 1964 and endowed with a natural vocal talent, Françoise Atlan began to study piano with her mother at the age of six. Her Judeo-Berber roots led her to develop a passion for traditional music, particularly from the Mediterranean Basin. Her work as a singer includes both Arab-Andalusian and Judeo-Arab repertoire. Atlan has performed throughout North America, Japan, Europe, Israel, Africa, and the U.K. and is featured on a critically-acclaimed recording with Constantinople called Terres turquoise.
Founded in 1998 by Teheran-born Kiya Tabassian, Constantinople has earned an international reputation for its unique juxtaposition of medieval music and the living traditions of the Middle East. Called “one of the world’s finer early music ensembles” (The Weekend Planet, ABC), Constantinople has toured Canada, Belgium, Portugal, Italy, Holland, France, Cyprus, Lebanon, Greece, and most recently, Mexico. The ensemble has recorded nine CDs for the ATMA label and has performed and with guest artists from around the world, including singers Anne Azema (France), Daniel Taylor (Canada), Ghada Shbeir (Lebanon), and ensemble En Chordais (Greece).
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An interview with gamba player Susie Napper as she discusses her ongoing love affair with the viol da gamba.
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