| About Susan Graham | |||||
| johnrpierce.com. | French Operetta Arias Susan Graham City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra Yves Abel, conductor Erato Disques
If you looked at Susan Graham’s compact disc French Operetta Arias in a store, you probably would not know what it contained. The back cover lists the first words of the seventeen selections, but does not tell who composed the music nor what operettas they come from. One might think that one was looking at a recording of little-known arias by Offenbach and his immediate successors, but one would be wrong. The selections (I cannot bring myself to call them arias) were written between 1897 and 1934, mostly in the 20’s and 30’s, by Messager, Yvain, Hahn, Honegger, and Simons. Many of them seem more like songs from musical comedy than arias from operetta.
Susan Graham is an opera singer with a pretty voice and she pronounces French very well. Her somewhat grand and lush voice does not seem well suited to these selections, however. They are somewhat uninteresting musically. Some verge on the tacky. A few are tedious. Maybe a popular singer with an interesting voice could have done something with some of them.
A trio “Ô mon bel inconnu” by Hahn in which three women—wife, daughter, and maid—sing about a man they know from personal advertisements, has some potential interest, but is spoiled by being treated as a stunt with Graham singing all three parts, thanks to recording techniques. It is pretty, but this is not Offenbach or Delibes. I don’t like the result.
I wonder whether Graham appreciated the aptness of four lines from one of the songs by Messager to this project:
Pour une âme un peu poétique, Ici tout est triste et banal Et c’est en vain que je m’applique Ce n’est pas là mon idéal.
I would recommend the recording to fans of Susan Graham or to those with an insatiable appetite for music that they have not heard before. For the general listener seeking a pleasing recording for repeated listening, I’d suggest staying away from this one.--JRP
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C'est Ça La Vie, C'est Ça L'amour - Susan Graham |
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