Tassis Christoyannis & Jeff Cohen – Charles Gounod: Melodies (2018) [FLAC 24bit/96kHz]

Remembering Gounod as just a masterful composer of great French operas, it’s easy to forget that he also wrote, among many various pieces of work, close to one hundred and fifty melodies throughout is long and rich career. Surprisingly, almost one third of these pages were written in English (during his years in London, between 1870 and 1874), about fifteen of them are in Italian, as well as a few in Spanish and German. Most of them of course are in French, among which Tassis Christoyannis and Jeff Cohen selected twenty-four gems, a comprehensive array ranging from his very first published melody – his Où voulez-vous aller from 1839, the year of his Prix de Rome! – to his À une jeune Grecque of the utmost maturity, in 1884. The composer explored all of the styles he held dear, with all the eclecticism he’s famous for: French romanticism, German Lied, orientalism, old-fashioned archaic writing… Gounod was particularly sensitive to the words’ meaning as much as their sound, the back and forth of verses and the variety of periods, and excelled in finding a melodic movement to perfectly fit the inflexions of pronunciation, the expressive flow of speech and setting the perfect phrasing for an eloquent result. With him, unlike his illustrious elder Berlioz, music served the words, carried them and elevated them if possible. Let’s discover this beautiful pearl rosary, made of works we would love to hear in recital more often.

Tracklist:
1. Ma Belle Amie est morte, CG. 404 03:22
2. Prière, CG. 427 02:54
3. Medjé, CG. 407 03:48
4. Le Souvenir, CG. 444 04:09
5. Ce que je suis sans toi, CG. 355 02:57
6. La Chanson du pêcheur, CG. 397 06:31
7. Heureux sera le jour CG. 388 03:11
8. Tombez, mes ailes !, CG. 463 03:06
9. Je ne puis espérer, CG. 394 01:41
10. Ô ma belle rebelle, CG. 414 02:50
11. Primavera, CG. 430 02:25
12. Quanti mai!, CG. 432 02:00
13. Venise, CG. 468 04:45
14. Si vous n’ouvrez votre fenêtre, CG. 440 02:02
15. Sérénade, CG. 437 03:56
16. Où voulez-vous aller ?, CG. 419 03:16
17. Aubade, CG. 330 02:42
18. Le Banc de pierre, CG. 335 05:45
19. Au printemps, CG. 331 01:40
20. À une jeune Grecque, CG. 324 04:14
21. Maid of Athens, CG. 406 03:50
22. Good Night, CG. 386 02:23
23. Sweet baby, sleep, CG. 445 03:07
24. Départ, CG. 369 03:50