Maurice Ravel. Trois poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé

Ensemble Intercontemporain.
Nora Gubisch Soprano
Dir.Alain Altinoglu
Trois poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé
Three songs by Ravel (written in 1913), to texts by Mallarmé, one of his favourite poets. (He had previously set the song Sainte in 1896.) It was a strange coincidence that Debussy also wrote settings of three Mallarmé poems at exactly the same time, selecting two of the same poems as Ravel: Soupir and Placet futile. The first performance was given to the Société Musicale Indépendante in Paris (14.i.1914) by Jane Bathori with the conductor D.-E. Inghelbrecht. The songs are dedicated as follows:
I. Soupir to Igor Stravinsky
II. Placet futile to Florent Schmitt
III. Surgi de la croupe et du bond to Erik Satie
The accompaniment is scored for piccolo, flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, string quartet, and piano - the same forces as required for Stravinsky's Three Japanese lyrics with which the Mallarmé settings were first performed.
1)Mon âme vers ton front où rêve, ô calme soeur,
Un automne jonché de taches de rousseur,
Et vers le ciel errant de ton oeil angélique
Monte, comme dans un jardin mélancolique,
Fidèle, un blanc jet d'eau soupire vers l'Azur!
-- Vers l'azur attendri d'octobre pâle et pur
Qui mire aux grands bassins sa langueur infinie
Et laisse, sur l'eau morte où la fauve agonie
Des feuilles erre au vent et creuse un froid sillon,
Se trainer le soleil jaune d'un long rayon.
2)Princesse! à jalouser le destin d'une Hébé
Qui point sur cette tasse au baiser de vos lèvres;
J'use mes feux mais n'ai rang discret que d'abbé
Et ne figurerai même nu sur le Sèvres.
Comme je ne suis pas ton bichon embarbé
Ni la pastille ni du rouge, ni jeux mièvres
Et que sur moi je sens ton regard clos tombé
Blonde dont les coiffeurs divins sont des orfèvres!
Nommez-nous... toi de qui tant de ris framboisés
Se joignent en troupeau d'agneaux apprivoisés
Chez tous broutant les voeux et bêlant aux délires,
Nommez-nous... pour qu'Amour ailé d'un éventail
M'y peigne flûte aux doigts endormant ce bercail,
Princesse, nommez-nous berger de vos sourires.
3)Surgi de la croupe et du bond
D'une verrerie éphémère
Sans fleurir la veillée amère
Le col ignoré s'interrompt.
Je crois bien que deux bouches n'ont
Bu, ni son amant ni ma mère,
Jamais à la même chimère,
Moi, sylphe de ce froid plafond!
Le pur vase d'aucun breuvage
Que l'inexhaustible veuvage
Agonise mais ne consent,
Naïf baiser des plus funèbres!
À rien expirer annonçant
Une rose dans les ténèbres.

[@didierclot5331]

Nora formidable bravo belle musicalité et timbre charmant

[@sirasy]

what a beautiful voice!!!!!!!!

[@jeffreydavis717]

A beautiful rendering. Brava.

[@limrc1]

Stellar! Ravel is the best. Thanks for sharing.

[@gerardbegni2806]

The three poems of Mallarmé count among the most advanced harmonic works of Ravel. The choice of the instrumental ensemble seems to have been dictated by the "Pierrot Lunaire" of Schoenberg, at least by what was reported to Ravel since he had no opportunity to hear it.

[@sirasy]

schön!!!! Beautiful!

[@lalloushline]

Bravo excellent .

[@MarkuEbernburg]

Great performance!

[@fisherroastedpeanut]

cosmic

[@klausbaden]

Very good instrumentalists. The sopranos is often too massive for the many pp in the score.

[@adamrussell7939]

This is the sound the contemporary art songs composers have been copying for decades, but merely imitative of what a "modern" sound should be,

[@TheSweetsOfSin]

I've always thought it a shame, that an avantgarde composer like Ravel didn't make it mandatory that the innovations in composition were matched by innovations in vocal production i.e the way singers sing. It is bizarre to me that the "Chansons Madecasse", for example, should be sung in these awful dowager voices. A work like the "3 Poemes..." are much too delicate for these oversized "trombones".Vocally and phonetically the modern classics are stuck in the 18th + 19th century. We still today have "avantgarde" composers performed with voices that go with Mozart Operas or Wagner or Verdi. For all the anti-wagnerianism that Ravel indulged in he didn't see the problem of the voices.A rare exception, I believe, is De Falla who composed some pieces explicitly for "natural" flamenco singers. I'm not suggesting this is THE solution, but a fundamental reappraisal of what voices can or should do in modern "classical" music is rife. For instance the genre could learn from vocal techniques offered by the bulgarian singers or indian singers. The knowledge of these techniques should go into modern singing teaching. I dream of the day when singers start going completely new ways in this regard. I would like to hear the unearthly quality of Rave'ls music matched by equally unearthly voices, with a gentler Sound and yet more natural diction. Why not have throaty french "R's" instead of the pompous rolling "R's". To hell with these conventions!

[@ctfamily40]

+TheSweetsOfSin Agreed on all counts!!!

[@TheSweetsOfSin]

+Matthew Forte Perhaps you'd like to instigate an experiment in ´regard to the above mentioned. You seem to be in a MUCH better position than I to do so... I'd love to hear the results :-)

[@oxumochoa3958]

I completely agree with you

[@jacobmorris3664]

Do you like upshaw's version?

[@wastrel09]

I'm sure you could've done much better, dude

[@MartinSmithMFM]

*Debussy Mallarme* True yes, Philip, the tradition has been lost, it sounds all wrong, soupir sung like a side order for soup. Unlistenable to.

[@PhillipCheah]

Excellent? Really? The woman can't count to save her life, her pitches and rhythms are, in some places, downright WRONG, and don't even get me started on the her terrible vocal production. The conductor's beats are also flowery at best. This is THE Ensemble Intercontemporain, for crying out loud. Surely they can do better! At least the first violinist is very easy on the eyes, a small consolation indeed.

[@TheSweetsOfSin]

+Phillip Cheah Indeed the Ensemble Intercontemporain. Worrying! Also one would wish for a more experimental Approach (see my other comments above...

[@klausbaden]

I agree. The singer was no good choice. You need a singer with the talent to sing pp and more technical control about her voice.