Hector Berlioz; Maurice Ravel - Les nuits d'été; Shéhérazade (Régine Crespin)

Information

Composer: Hector Berlioz; Maurice Ravel; Claude Debussy; Francis Poulenc

1. Berlioz - Les Nuits d'été, Op. 7: 1. Villanelle
2. Berlioz - Les Nuits d'été, Op. 7: 2. Le Spectre de la rose
3. Berlioz - Les Nuits d'été, Op. 7: 3. Absence
4. Berlioz - Les Nuits d'été, Op. 7: 4. Sur les lagunes
5. Berlioz - Les Nuits d'été, Op. 7: 5. Au cimetière
6. Berlioz - Les Nuits d'été, Op. 7: 6. L'île inconnue
7. Ravel - Shéhérazade: 1. Asie
8. Ravel - Shéhérazade: 2. La Flûte enchantée
9. Ravel - Shéhérazade: 3. L'indifférent
10. Debussy - Trois Chansons de Bilitis, L. 90: 1. La Flûte de Pan
11. Debussy - Trois Chansons de Bilitis, L. 90: 2. La Chevelure
12. Debussy - Trois Chansons de Bilitis, L. 90: 3. Le Tombeau des Naïades
13. Poulenc - Banalités, FP 107: Chanson d'Orkenise
14. Poulenc - Banalités, FP 107: Hôtel
15. Poulenc - La courte paille, FP 178: Le Carafon
16. Poulenc - La courte paille, FP 178: La Reine de coeur
17. Poulenc - Chansons villageoises, FP 117: Les gars qui vont à la fête
18. Poulenc - Deux poèmes de Louis Aragon, FP 122: 'C'
19. Poulenc - Deux poèmes de Louis Aragon, FP 122: Fêtes galantes

Régine Crespin, soprano

Orchestre de la Suisse Romande

Ernest Ansermet, conductor

John Wustman, piano

Date: 1963; 1967 / 1999

Label: Decca

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Review

These performances represent one of the unchallenged peaks in the history of French song on disc. Since the day they were issued in 1963, Régine Crespin’s Berlioz and Ravel have set the standard by which all others are measured, and if you’ve only room in your collection for one version of these pieces, then this is it. Fabulously remastered, the performances have come up sounding like new. In fact, I would go so far as to say that this is one of the finest recordings of the human voice ever made. Crespin is perfectly balanced against the orchestra and sounds almost as if she were in your listening room with you–it’s that tangible. Nothing stands between you and her incomparable way with the text of each song. For students of French singing, this disc is a veritable master class! Ernest Ansermet’s contribution is as distinguished as Crespin’s. He knows the music inside out. The Debussy and Poulenc songs with piano are on the same high level as the two orchestral works. Stunning.

— David Hurwitz

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Hector Berlioz (11 December 1803 – 8 March 1869) was a French Romantic composer, conductor and music critic. He initially studied medicine before pursuing music at the Paris Conservatoire. His landmark composition, Symphonie fantastique, established his reputation for imaginative orchestration and programmatic storytelling. Other major works include Roméo et Juliette, La Damnation de Faust, and Les Troyens. Being underappreciated in France during his lifetime, Berlioz gained international acclaim as a conductor and author of an influential orchestration treatise that shaped later generations of composers.

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Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy. Born to a music-loving family, Ravel attended the Paris Conservatoire. After leaving the conservatoire, he found his own way as a composer, developing a style of great clarity and incorporating elements of modernism, baroque, neoclassicism and, in his later works, jazz. Among his works to enter the repertoire are pieces for piano, chamber music, two piano concertos, ballet music, two operas and eight song cycles.

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Régine Crespin (23 February 1927 – 5 July 2007) was a French soprano. Renowned for her elegant, warm, and nuanced singing, she achieved particular acclaim in French and German repertories. After early successes in France, her international breakthrough came in 1958 at the Bayreuth Festival with her performance as Kundry in Parsifal. Crespin later expanded her repertoire across multiple operatic traditions and transitioned into mezzo-soprano roles after vocal difficulties emerged in the 1970s. She also enjoyed a long association with the Metropolitan Opera before retiring in 1989 to teach at the Conservatoire de Paris.

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