Search - Gabriel Faure, Claude Debussy, Guido Agosti :: Fauré, Debussy: Mélodies

Suzanne Danco and Guido Agosti in Debussy Masterpiece Miniat

Charles Andrew Whitehead | Fort Worth, Texas | 10/22/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Debussy's first biographer, Louis Laloy wrote: "the lessons from which Debussy derived the greatest benefit did not come from musicians, but from poets and painters."



Poetry fueled Debussy's imagination enough for him to want to emulate the suppleness and capricious reveries in Baudelaire and others. Debussy saw poetry and music "never as negations or affirmations. They are allusions to life". He thought of French music in general as "nothing more than fantasy within sensibility" and in poetry saw no sense in discriminating between the rhythmic and plastic arts: "the two come together in poetry". These intimately expressive works illustrate the "very quiet musician" Debussy described himself as while still containing the inner world of a free spirit in their flights of ecstasy and wit. "Music is made for the inexpressible. I would like it to appear as if coming out of the shadows and from time to time returning there, while always remaining a discrete presence."



Debussy's melodies reveal a fascination with Classical French poets Charles d'Orleans, Francois Villon, Tristan l'Hermite as well as the Symbolist writers like Verlaine- combining the most delicate with the most passionate facets of the melodie. His interest in ancient texts paralleled his desire to capture the atmosphere of ancient French music inherent in Rameau and Couperin. Themes of the mystical, of desire, ecstasy, and the intangible permeate these intimate miniatures.



The music on this CD contains the classic Decca recordings from 1950-1954 of the Belgian soprano/mezzo and respected Melisande, Suzanne Danco. She is accompanied by Guido Agosti, a Busoni student who catches the atmosphere of each song and balances a natural pacing with attention to expressive detail. The sound world the two create is not merely one of ravishing beauty or big dramatic singing, but rather one that moves the emotions through nuance and complete naturalness. Their unity of conception make these Debussy songs some of the most idiomatic and magical performances (for me) in the recorded legacy of this music. Danco's straight-forward earnestness and commitment remind me of Kathleen Ferrier, but her voice has its own unique qualities.



The 5 groups of Debussy's songs on this recording chart a course of musical development from 1888 to 1910. They show Debussy's musical evolution from under Wagner's influence to an independence requiring a sparse style of conciseness and subtlety. The timeless quality of this music arises in part from Debussy's sensitivity to qualities of resonance and timbre that are present through a long line of French music as well as plainsong, Chopin, Mussorgsky, Javanese gamelan music, folk/popular song and that extends to 21st Century French composers such as Tristan Murail.



There are devices which aid in unifying the music but with a flexibility present that allows for a blurring of formal divisions and fluid rhythm/meter where phrases stretch over the bar-line or resolve out of sync with the piano. Expressive articulations, dynamics and sudden shifts of unresolved harmonies or texture may underline the narrative development, adding to the elusive and intangible aspects of Debussy's art that often describe his music. Below are a few notes about each set of melodies.



Ariettes oubliees (Paul Verlaine) 1888/1903 The six "Forgotten Airs" were revised in 1903 and are dedicated to Mary Garden who sang the role of Melisande in the 1902 Paris premiere of Pelleas. Debussy and Garden recorded 3 of the songs in 1904. This cycle is an early masterpiece showing that a distinct personality has come to the fore. These melodies follow exactly every inflexion and sentiment of text while even the formal structure adheres to the specific content of each poem. Debussy underlines certain phrases of text using recitative ("Quoi! Nulle trahison?") or by voicing a whole sentence on a single note (beginning of Spleen).



Fetes galantes 1re recueil (Paul Verlaine) 1892. En sourdine is a beautiful love poem complete with nightingale calls in the piano. The references to modality also color the atmosphere. Bernac notes that expressive markings should make sense within the context of the poem. Therefore "animato" should never agitate the lazily entranced lovers and "desespoir" (in the poem) suggests a resigned, amorous melancholy. Danco and Agosti judge this beautifully. Fantoches is a witty scherzo that evokes the fanciful characters of the old Italian comedy and requires a rhythmic precision, humor and elegance. Clair de Lune begins in an exotic pentatonic atmosphere of half lights. The last two lines of the 3rd verse are of such sublime beauty that words are completely inadequate. Both this and En Sourdine make for a striking comparison with Faure's settings.



Trois Chansons de Bilitis 1897 Similar in style to the music of Melisande, the text is by Debussy's close friend Pierre Louys. The first melodie tells of the young Bilitis' awakening of first love. The scene is punctuated by flute runs and an ancient quality in its modality. The recitative style propels the text forward and Danco maintains grace and naivete. The second melodie is again one of those ecstatic, erotic utterings where Bilitis' love reaches its climax. There are whole-tone colorings and the full range of expression is reached. The final repose is judged well by Agosti and Danco. In the third melodie, winter has come and passion has dimmed. The piano is treated very orchestrally and is crucial in concluding the song successfully.



Le Promenoir des deux amants (Tristan l'Hermyte) 1910 The first of these is a descriptive poem where the music has added a liquid and mysterious beauty. The second and third melodies in contrast are delicate, elegant love poems. The second song again suggests a spoken style between recitative and plainsong. The distillation of Debussy's style is revealed in the extraordinary refinement of this set.



Trois Ballades de Francois Villon 1910. Perhaps the summit of Debussy's art as a composer of melodie, these texts nevertheless proved problematic for the composer to set. In 1912 he stated that it had been "tres difficilede suivre bien, de plaquer de rythmes, tout en gardant une inspiration". The first two Ballades express a mixture of sorrow and regret while the third is a vivid stylization of the rhythms and cadences of French speech exaggerated almost, but not quite, to vulgarity.



Faure's La Bonne Chanson (Verlaine) 1894. These 9 songs were originally written for Emma Bardac who was Faure's mistress and later Debussy's second wife and mother of Debussy's only child, a daughter- Chouchou. The central theme of total happiness at a new love requires a wide palette of tone colors in order to express secondary feelings of relief at escaping from an uncertain past, to determination for the future. Danco does not always color the music as vividly as say Souzay/Baldwin on their 1960 Philips recording but there is an overflowing energy which brings about its own rewards.



Congratulations to Testament for this compelling reissue.



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