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Mélodies Françaises - A programme of French song from the late 19^th century and the early 20^th: Philippe Jaroussky (counter-tenor), Jerome Ducros (piano), Purcell Room, London, 23.3.2009 (MMB)

Gabriel Dupont: Mandoline
Ernest Chausson: Le colibri, Op.2 No.7; Papillons, Op.2 No.3; Les heures, Op.27 No.1; Le temps des lilas (from Poeme de l'amour et de la mer, Op.19)
Camille Saint-Saens: Tournoiement (Songe d'opium), Op.26 No.6
Reynaldo Hahn: Offrande; A Chloris; Trois jours de vendage; Fetes galantes; Quand je fus pris au pavillon (No.8 of 12 Rondels); L'Heure exquise
Jules Massenet: Nuit d'espagne for voice & piano
Cecile Chaminade: Automne, Op.35 No.2; Sombrero – extract; Mignonne
Gabriel Faure: Automne, Op.18 No.3; En Sourdine, Op.58 No.2; Nell, Op.18 No.1
Cesar Franck: Nocturne for voice & piano; Prelude for piano  
Guillaume Lekeu: Sur une tombe (No.1 of 3 Poemes for voice & piano)


This recital was part of the 2008/09 International Voices series, taking place in the various venues at London’s Southbank Centre. It has featured many distinguished singers, for example German baritone Matthias Goerne and American counter-tenor David Daniels. Tonight it was Philippe Jaroussky’s turn, a very young (he is not yet thirty) French counter-tenor and owner of an extraordinary luminous voice.

Jaroussky first trained as a violinist before he turned to singing, which did not happen until 1996. He specialised, like most counter-tenors, in the baroque repertoire and although he possesses operatic experience, he is mostly known as a concert artist. His discography is considerable and he has received critical acclaim for his recordings of Vivaldi, Handel, Bassani and especially for his 2007 CD Carestini – The story of a castrato with Emmanuelle Haïm and Le Concert d’Astrée. This recital at the Purcell Room was therefore a complete change of direction for this young and extremely talented singer. Jaroussky presented a programme of French mélodies (which like the German Lieder) are a genre in themselves. This was a truly wonderful display of delicately nostalgic songs by the most celebrated French composers of the later part of the 19^th Century and the beginning of the 20^th, promoting Jaroussky’s latest CD offer Opium – Mélodies Françaises which contains all of the mélodies from the concert.

From the moment Jaroussky appeared on stage and began singing the first piece, Dupont’s Mandoline, the audience was captivated and responded warmly to everything that he did. His voice possesses incredible virtuosity, with high flights of superb coloratura and flawless technique, particularly at its highest and medium register but also with great purity, beauty and warmth of tone. His diction is clear and there is a certain innocent, crystalline quality to anything he sings, which somehow matches his boyish charm and youthful looks. This repertoire of French Songs from the so-called fin-de-siècle is an unusual choice for a singer with Jaroussky’s voice but it is also a conscious deviation from the works he usually performs. As he has said himself: “This voice type [counter-tenor] doesn’t have a particularly wide range of music written especially for it, ... so that we find ourselves singing music written for the castrati, who actually had a very different quality of voice. ... Why shouldn’t we venture into musical worlds not often associated with counter-tenors but which prove to be well suited to our voices?” This is exactly what he did in this recital at the Purcell Room.

Philippe Jaroussky’s interpretation of these wonderful songs was a thing of beauty. He was excellent in all of them, changing his style to suit the character of each song, always with sobriety, grace and extreme elegance in his marvellous delivery of a repertoire in which he felt literally at home but was also delighted to sing. His obvious enjoyment and enthusiasm for all the songs was simply enchanting and perfectly suited for the intimacy of the Purcell Room. He was delicate and sensitive in Chausson’s Colibri; dramatically powerful in Saint-Saëns’s Songe d’opium; melancholic in Chausson’s Les heures; seductive in Hahn’s Fêtes galantes; and vivacious in Chaminade’s Sombrero. He displayed a well controlled melodic lyrical line, particularly in Franck’s Nocturne and Hahn’s L’heure exquise; his rendition of Massenet’s Nuit d’Espagne was exquisitely sensual and warm, and in Fauré’s Automne his high notes were simply breath taking.

Philippe Jaroussky was effectively accompanied by the excellent Jérome Ducros on the piano. There was an obvious good rapport and musical understanding between the two and Ducros perfectly cushioned Jaroussky’s vocal line without ever trying to overshadow him. Justifiably, he had also his moments of glory with two wonderful pieces for solo piano: Chaminade’s Automne and Franck’s Prélude for piano, which he executed beautifully, thus demonstrating what a fine pianist he is and how well he comprehends the nuances of the instrument.

The recital was undoubtedly first rate and, if anything, I would say that Philippe Jaroussky is even more impressive live than on CD. The applause was overwhelming, forcing him to return to the stage several times. In the end, he performed two encores, one of which was a little known gem by Pauline Viardot, sister of the more famous Maria Malibran. The public responded enthusiastically and if it had been up to them, Jaroussky would have probably continued to sing for another hour!

Margarida Mota-Bull


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