It seems appropriate, given the recent death of Swiss tenor
Hugues Cuénod (1902-2010) to remind readers of his fruitful
association with Nimbus throughout the 1970s. This double disc
of mélodies was recorded at various points between the years
1972 and 1978 but there is little real deterioration in Cuénod’s
voice — the fact that he modestly denied having much of a voice
at all should be taken with a large pinch of salt or, rather,
that his characteristically nasal voice was of such an individual
sound that it makes comparisons unprofitable.
The majority of the songs here are by Fauré, though there are
eight by Duparc whose mélodies were the last to be recorded.
I think one could reasonably take Après un rêve, one
of the composer’s most well known songs, as an index of Cuénod’s
Fauré singing. It’s sung with directness, an unruffled simplicity
shorn of all artifice, and promotes clarity of textual meaning
without in any way introducing artificial or intrusive vowel
or consonant sounds. It is also unsentimental, unshowy singing,
not at all beautiful as such, in terms of voice production,
range or tone, and occasionally pinched, reedy and nasal at
the top of the range. The voice nevertheless commands the greatest
respect because of its sincerity of purpose.
Cuénod could also display commendable vigour, despite his age
at the time of the recordings. There’s real youthful brio in
Nell and he is careful that rhythmic suppleness is addressed
in Mandoline, the first of the Verlaine set called Cinq
mélodies ‘de Venise’. At his weakest, and there are few
such moments, the voice takes on an insistent and too penetrating
quality — Green from the same set is a culprit in this
respect — and there are moments when the music calls for a greater
range of tone colours and bloom than he can supply at the age
of seventy, if indeed he was ever able to do so. So La bonne
Chanson emerges as unevenly sung in these respects. Puisque
l’aube grandit, for instance, is done with great articulacy,
its meaning conveyed with adroit perception, but it’s not very
warmly sung, and there’s significant strain in the voice at
certain key moments. One could perhaps hardly expect otherwise,
but I mention it for those as yet unfamiliar with Cuénod’s art
and indeed with these particular late recordings that enshrine
it.
At his best he evinces a confident and direct sincerity that
is very telling. I particularly admired L’horizon chimérique
for this quality and it’s something he brings to the Duparc
too. Here we notice the change of acoustic, since he was taped
at Wyastone Leys, not in the Birmingham studios. The tone is
thinner still now, but the sensibility intact, the sinewy control
in something like Le manoir de Rosemonde still powerfully
at work. In the Duparc settings he’s accompanied by Geoffrey
Parsons and in the Fauré, in their entirety, by Martin Isepp.
Both were musicians of long experience and are wholly at one
with Cuénod.
Jonathan Woolf
Gabriel FAURÉ (1845-1924)
Lydia (Lisle) op.4 no.2 (c.1870) [2.47]
Au bord de l’eau (Prudhomme) op.8 no.1 (1875) [2.12]
Après un rêve (Bussine) op.7 no.1 (c.1878) [2.44]
Nell (Lisle) op.18 no.1 (1878) [2.15]
Automne (Silvestre) op.18 no.3 (1878) [2.56]
Aurore (Silvestre) op.39 no.1 (1884) [2.40]
Les roses d’Ispahan (Lisle) op.39 no.4 (1884) [3.11]
Les présents (Adam) op.46 no.1 (1887) [1.57]
Clair de lune (Verlaine) op.46 no.2 (1887) [3.14]
Spleen (Verlaine) op.51 no.3 (1888) [2.55]
Cinq mélodies ‘de Venise’ op.58 (Verlaine)
I Mandoline [2.00]
II En sourdine [4.04]
III Green [2.00]
IV À Clymène [3.27]
V C’est l’extase [4.09]
La bonne Chanson op.61 (Verlaine) (1892-4)
I Une Sainte en son aureole [2.13]
II Puisque l’aube grandit [2.03]
III La lune blanche luit dans les bois [2.33]
IV J’allais par des chemins perfides [1.53]
V J’ai presque peur, en vérité [2.18]
VI Avant que tu ne t’en ailes [2.54]
VII Donc, ce sera par un clair jour d’été [2.54]
VIII N’est-ce-pas? [2.34]
IX L’hiver a cessé [3.24]
Prison (Verlaine) op.83 no.1 (1894) [2.48]
Soir (Samain) op.83 no.2 (1894) [2.53]
Le parfum impérissable (Lisle) op.76 no.1 (1897) [2.50]
Le plus doux chemin (Silvestre) op.87 no.1 (1904) [1.43]
Mirages op.113 (Brimont) (1919)
I Cygne sur l’eau [3.28]
II Reflets dans l’eau [4.27]
III Jardin nocturne [3.15]
IV Danseuse [2.34]
L’horizon chimérique op.118 (Mirmont) (1921)
I La mer est infinite [1.42]
II Je me suis embarqué [2.35]
III Diane, Séléné [2.19]
IV Vaisseaux, nous vous aurons aimés [1.51]
Henri DUPARC (1848-1933)
Chanson triste (Lahor) (c.1868) [3.42]
Soupir (Prudhomme) (c.1869) [3.43]
L’invitation au voyage (Baudelaire) (c.1870) [4.43]
Élégie (Moore) (c.1874) [3.01]
Extase (Lahor) (c.1874) [3.39]
Le manoir de Rosemonde (Bonnières) (c.1879) [2.32]
Phidylé (Lisle) (1882) [5.35]
Lamento (Gautier) (c.1883) [3.35]
Hugues Cuénod (tenor) 
