Marianne Crebassa (mezzo-soprano)
Séguedilles
Choeur du Capitole de Toulouse
Orchestre national du Capitole de Toulouse/Ben Glassberg
rec. September 2020, La Halle aux Grains, Toulouse
Song texts and translations provided
ERATO 9029667689 [73:39]
Lyric mezzo-soprano Marianne Crebassa honours her French-Spanish heritage with 'Séguedilles', her new release for the Erato label. The album follows her two acclaimed solo releases on Erato both of which I reviewed: first from 2016, her album
Oh, Boy!, a collection of opera arias from 'trouser' roles and in the following year Crebassa, accompanied by pianist Fazil Say released
Secrets, a recital of mélodies from by Debussy, Ravel, Fauré and Duparc.
Crebassa is here exploring the Spanish roots of her grandparents and great grandparents, who died before she could meet them. The inspiration for the album title 'Séguedilles' lies in the Spanish dance and its music, with its numerous regional variations. The collection includes the act one aria and duo the Séguedille - Près des remparts de Séville from Bizet’s Carmen and the Falla mélodie - Séguedille. Crebassa describes her album as ‘a marriage of France and Spain’, in a programme of twenty-two works interlinking the two separate cultures and traditions that are close to her heart. French composers Bizet, Massenet, Saint-Saëns and Ravel represented here by their Spanish influenced music, while the Iberian composers Falla, Mompou and Guridi all lived in Paris at one time, acclaiming the sounds of their home country or region. In addition. there is the German-born Offenbach, an adopted Parisian, who also lived for a while in San Sebastián in the Basque region and is represented by an aria and duet from La Périchole, an opéra bouffe set in Peru under Spanish colonial rule.
Crebassa’s chosen programme, a mix of some familiar and many little-known works, is the type of collection I find especially appealing. Undoubtedly the best-known work here is the much-loved Habanera from Bizet’s Carmen, an opera set in Seville in Andalusia. Excepting the arias from Carmen, the remaining songs in the collection are ones I don’t encounter too often and the Mompou and Guridi songs I am hearing for the first time.
Crebassa is clearly enjoying her Spanish themed programme. Her voice is commendably assured and expressive, and balanced with pristine phrasing and clarity of diction; she penetrates the heart of the texts., although a slight metallic edge to her voice slightly lessens the beauty of her tone colour. Standing out here are the strong-willed female roles, impressively characterised by Crebassa: Carmen (Carmen), Dulcinée (Don Quichotte), Concepción (L’Heure espagnole), Périchole (La Périchole) and Salud (La vida breve).
The fiery gypsy Carmen has several much-loved arias and duets and all three of Crebassa’s selections are striking. From Act One is Carmen’s entrance aria the sensual Habanera with chorus, and the aria and duo Séguedille, as Carmen, now under arrest, uses as a ruse to escape her powers of seduction on Don José, sung by tenor Stanislas de Barbeyrac. From Act Two the Chanson bohème is irresistible, too, with Crebassa in compelling form; there are also fine, if brief, contributions from soprano Céline Laborie and mezzo-soprano Victoire Bunel. Notable from Massenet’s opera Don Quichotte is Dulcinée’s act one air Aiza! Aiza! Quand la femme a vingt ans. As the young heroine who is not satisfied with just being adored by admirers, Crebassa produces meltingly beautiful singing of satisfying clarity and expression.
Six songs on the album have piano accompaniment. Crebassa has selected four from Jesús Guridi’s set of Seis canciones castellanas (Six Castilian songs) that I do not find especially memorable or engaging. Nevertheless, the single song by Ravel from his Chants populaires sung in Galician and Falla’s Séguedille, the third of his Mélodies, are most appealingly rendered by Crebassa who makes the most of the texts. A real find is Federico Mompou’s set of five songs Combat del somni (The struggle of the dream) in this orchestrated version. These are lovely settings of Josep Janés’ texts by the Catalan composer whose beguiling writing suits Crebassa’s mid-range perfectly.
Massenet’s Nuit d’Espagne (Spanish Night) in Gabriel Bianco’s arrangement for voice and guitar is enchanting. Crebassa communicates the fragrantly tender qualities of the text with real accomplishment and an undertow of melancholy, while benefiting from the valuable contribution of guitarist Thibaut Garcia. In Saint-Saëns’ El desdichado (The unfortunate one), a Boléro for two voices and orchestra, Crebassa duets with soprano Adriana Gonzales. This is a highly entertaining score with prominent castanets and both singers clearly savour the sarcastic humour of Jules Barbier’s text as they scornfully pity couples who fall in love.
Ben Glassberg, the conductor here of the Orchestre national du Capitole de Toulouse, is a new name to me. He achieves pleasing levels of control and expression from his players and is notably sympathetic to Crebessa and her fellow soloists, who were recorded under studio conditions at La Halle aux Grains, Toulouse; the engineering team has produced pleasing clarity and well-balanced sound quality. The first-class booklet notes comprise of an introductory note from Marianne Crebassa, a helpful essay by Michel Parouty and the invaluable full sung texts with English translations.
Marianne Crebessa is in quite irresistible form in this Spanish-themed collection. She has talked about not wanting to specialise, and ideally likes to pursue alternative approaches of employing her voice, which makes me curious about what repertoire she will next record.
Michael Cookson
Contents
Georges BIZET (1838-1875)
1. Opera - Carmen: Act I, Scene 4: Recitative: “Carmen! sur tes pas, nous test pressons tous!” [0:49]
2. Opera - Carmen: Act I, Scene 4: No. 5 Habanera: “L’amour est un oiseau rebelle” [4:50]
Manuel de FALLA (1876-1946)
3. Opera - La vida breve (Life is Short or The Brief Life): Act I, Scene 3: Aria: “Vivan los que rien!” [5:58]
Jules MASSENET (1842-1912)
4. Opera - Don Quichotte: Act I, Scene 2: Air: “Aiza! Aiza! Quand la femme a vingt ans” [3:32]
Jesús GURIDI (1886-1961)
Seis canciones castellanas (Six Castilian songs):
5. Seis canciones castellanas, for voice & piano: No. 1, Allá arriba, en aquella montaña [2:18]
6. Seis canciones castellanas, for voice & piano: No. 4, No quiero tus avellanas [3:04]
7. Seis canciones castellanas, for voice & piano: No. 5, Cómo quieres que adivine [2:38]
8. Seis canciones castellanas, for voice & piano: No. 6, Mañanita de San Juan [3:54]
Jules MASSENET
9. Nuit d’Espagne (Spanish Night), arranged for voice & guitar by Gabriel Bianco (b. 1988) [3:35]
(arrangement of Air de ballet, second movement from the orchestral suite Scènes pittoresques:
Georges BIZET
10. Opera - Carmen: Act I, Scene 10: Séguedille et Duo: “Près des remparts de Séville” [4:44]
Camille SAINT-SAËNS (1835-1921)
11. Chanson Espagnole, “El Desdichado” (The unfortunate one) for 2 voices and orchestra [3:30]
Federico MOMPOU (1893-1987)
12. Combat del somni: No. 1, Damunt de tu només les flors [5:00]
13. Combat del somni: No. 2, Aquesta nit un mateix vent [2:59]
14. Combat del somni: No. 3, Jo et pressentia com la mar [2:02]
15. Combat del somni: No. 4, Fes-me la vida transparent [3:22]
16. Combat del somni: No. 5, Ara no sé si et veig encar [3:36]
Maurice RAVEL (1875-1937)
17. Chants populaires, M.A. 17: No. 1, Chanson espagnole [2:17] (sung in Galician with piano)
Manuel de FALLA
18. 3 Mélodies: No. 3, Séguedille for voice & piano [2:11]
Jacques OFFENBACH (1819-1880)
19. Opéra Bouffe - La Périchole: Act I: Duo: “Le conquérant dit à la jeune indienne” [2:37]
20. Opéra Bouffe - La Périchole: Act I: Séguedille: “Vous a-t-on dit souvent” [2:32]
Maurice RAVEL
21. Opera - L’Heure espagnole (The Spanish Hour), M. 52: Air: “Oh! la pitoyable aventure!” [3:08]
Georges BIZET
22. Opera - Carmen: Act II, Scene 12: Chanson bohème: “Les tringles des sistres tintaient avec un éclat métallique” [4:52]
Performers:
Marianne Crebassa, mezzo-soprano (all tracks)
Choeur du Capitole de Toulouse (tr. 1-4)
Orchestre national du Capitole de Toulouse / Ben Glassberg (conductor) - (tr. 1-4, 10-16, 19-22)
Stanislas de Barbeyrac, tenor (tr. 3, 10, 19, 20)
Adriana Gonzales, soprano (tr. 11)
Céline Laborie, soprano & Victoire Bunel, mezzo-soprano (tr. 22)
Alphonse Cemin, piano (tr. 5-8, 17, 18)
Thibaut Garcia, guitar (tr. 9)
