Reynaldo Hahn (1874-1947)
Ô mon bel inconnu, comédie musicale in three acts (1933) with a libretto by Sacha Guitry
Thomas Dolié – Prosper Aubertin; Véronique Gens – Antoinette; Olivia Doray – Marie-Anne; Éléonore Pancrazi – Félicie; Yoann Dubruque – Claude; Carl Ghazarossian – Jean-Paul / Hilarion Lallumette; Jean-Christophe Lanièce – Monsieur Victor / Shop Boy
Orchestre National Avignon-Provence/Samuel Jean
rec. 2019, Auditorium du Grand Avignon, Le Pontet, Avignon, France
BRU ZANE BZ1043 [60]
My colleague, Michael Cookson welcomed the release of this delightful French musical comedy upon its initial release last year. Now I have been given the opportunity to evaluate its charms and find that it passes with flying colours in every respect.
Ô mon bel inconnu was the brainchild of Sacha Guitry (1885-1957) who could easily be considered the France’s version of Noel Coward. The story is about a bored Parisian gentlemen’s hatmaker who, along with his family, get up to various amorous intrigues which takes them off to a villa in Biarrritz before everything gets sorted out. While the comedy is more of a play with musical interludes, not unlike Coward’s Conversation Piece , the details of the story really have more in common with Coward’s comedy Hay Fever. Palazzetto Bru Zane has published a full transcript of the Guitry’s text as well as the musical numbers. This allows the listener to get a sense of what a viable stage play this is: good enough that it would be just as viable to stage it without the musical interludes given the right producer and actors with a good sense of period comedic style. The English translator has made a real effort to render Guitry’s many puns in a form that would form an equivalent play on words for English speakers. Much of the time this succeeds but there are some instances where the puns were untranslatable.
The recording offers all of Reynaldo Hahn’s delicious music for this profiterole of the footlights. Hahn’s delectable score offers a series of songs, duets and orchestral interludes which offer wit and charm in abundance. The title song is an especially engaging trio for the three ladies of the household, and turns out to be the most memorable number of this finely wrought score. The delicate orchestration for a smallish orchestra sounds very much of the 1930’s era without ever tipping over into jazz sounds. Previously, Hahn’s 1922 operetta Ciboulette (review) had seemed to me to be the high point of the composer’s musical output, but after hearing this I am of the opinion that Ô mon bel inconnu goes one step further in terms of inspiration and an attempt to break free of the old operetta forms.
In 1933 Hahn and Guitry managed to assemble a cast of notable French actors who could also sing, a point that Christophe Mirambeau’s excellent notes in the accompanying book emphasizes. They seemed to take the stance that the play was as important as the music rather than just being a frame on which to display the music, as was so often the case. This caused them to engage some of the best stage actors of the day including two women who would become famous through the medium of cinema. Arletty, who the world would come to know from Marcel Carné’s great film Les Enfants du Paradis, and the even more internationally celebrated Simone Simon. On You Tube, one can find several examples of the original cast members singing their numbers in recordings that were made by the Pathé company at the time of the 1933 première.
In resurrecting this piece, Palazzetto Bru Zane has assembled a top notch cast of singer-actors to replicate the magic of that first production. Foremost is the scrumptious performance of Éléonore Pancrazi as the witty maid Félicie. Her tangy mezzo and winning delivery just about steals the show outright from her very accomplished colleagues in the cast. Thomas Dolié as Prosper conveys just the right amount of paternalistic chutzpah yet he does not neglect the more sympathetic side of his character. Prosper is the person who sets the wheels of the plot in motion and he also serves as a sort of narrator as he is the only person who conveys important developments that are occurring behind the scenes. Dolié’s voice and expressive abilities are entirely up to the challenge. Véronique Gens as his wife Antoinette finds the right blend of humour and bewilderment as required by her role. Vocally she reveals a new facet to her art as she travels effortlessly between the operetta and chanteuse styles. Olivia Doray as Marie-Anne, their daughter, is a charming mezzo ingénue. She is ably partnered by Yoann Dubruque as Claude, although his voice is rather close in timbre to Dolié’s, which could be a bit confusing at first for the listener.
Samuel Jean leads the Orchestre National Avignon-Provence with a perfect sense of the style demanded by this delicate score. One example of the kind of poise that is required of the conductor occurs during the first act when the family erupts into an argument that takes place in waltz time. Jean handles it superbly, eventually the composer rewards him with some instrumental numbers in which the orchestra can show off its skill: the diaphanously scored entr’acte to Act Two for example, and an especially fine saxophone solo during an intermezzo.
Palazzetto Bru Zane has done their usual exemplary job in production and engineering of the CD, also providing their customary hard bound book containing several in-depth articles in French and English, as well as the fully translated text. Recording projects of this standard don’t come around very often and the fact that this is presented in an edition that is limited to 3500 copies means that one should not hesitate to snap them up while still available. One would hate to see the phrase “non-disponible” when trying to acquire such an outstanding release.
Mike Parr
Previous review: Michael Cookson
