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There are several attractive features to this collection of French songs by soprano Mary Bevan. Start with the voice itself; Bevan's warm tone, rich without being thick, is wonderful right from the first note in Gabriel Fauré's Clair de lune, Op. 46, No. 2, and, in general, she has never sounded better. Her phrasing is confident and relaxes as she draws the listener on her own terms into the short Britten songs of Les Illuminations, Op. 18. Those songs point to a second positive feature: Bevan assembles a group of songs for the fairly unusual forces of soprano and string group, either the Ruisi Quartet or the full dodecatet of the 12 Ensemble in the Britten and several other pieces. This, too, works to Bevan's advantage; the 12 Ensemble is, in effect, conducted from the music stand by the singer (there is no conductor), and the show is all hers, although her usual fine accompanist, Joseph Middleton, is also present and careful. Some of the songs were arranged for these forces, either by their composers or by Robin Holloway, and a couple of these arrangements are world premieres. The program itself is also strong, with the aphoristic Britten pieces giving way to an atmosphere of almost unrelieved gloom in works by Ravel, Duparc, Chabrier, Chausson, and Debussy before lightening pleasantly in the songs by Augusta Holmès, an underrated composer, at the end. There are few complaints here, although Signum Classics gets the accent mark wrong on Holmès name, and the label's church acoustic washes out some of the finer distinctions in the string orchestra and string quartet settings. In general, a splendid outing from Bevan.
© James Manheim /TiVo
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Gabriel Fauré, Composer - PUBLIC DOMAIN, MusicPublisher - Mary Bevan, MainArtist - 12 Ensemble, Ensemble, MainArtist
(C) 2023 Signum Classics (P) 2023 Signum Records
Benjamin Britten, Composer - Mary Bevan, MainArtist - Boosey & Hawkes, MusicPublisher - 12 Ensemble, Ensemble, MainArtist
(C) 2023 Signum Classics (P) 2023 Signum Records
Benjamin Britten, Composer - Mary Bevan, MainArtist - Boosey & Hawkes, MusicPublisher - 12 Ensemble, Ensemble, MainArtist
(C) 2023 Signum Classics (P) 2023 Signum Records
Benjamin Britten, Composer - Mary Bevan, MainArtist - Boosey & Hawkes, MusicPublisher - 12 Ensemble, Ensemble, MainArtist
(C) 2023 Signum Classics (P) 2023 Signum Records
Benjamin Britten, Composer - Mary Bevan, MainArtist - Boosey & Hawkes, MusicPublisher - 12 Ensemble, Ensemble, MainArtist
(C) 2023 Signum Classics (P) 2023 Signum Records
Benjamin Britten, Composer - Mary Bevan, MainArtist - Boosey & Hawkes, MusicPublisher - 12 Ensemble, Ensemble, MainArtist
(C) 2023 Signum Classics (P) 2023 Signum Records
Benjamin Britten, Composer - Mary Bevan, MainArtist - Boosey & Hawkes, MusicPublisher - 12 Ensemble, Ensemble, MainArtist
(C) 2023 Signum Classics (P) 2023 Signum Records
Benjamin Britten, Composer - Mary Bevan, MainArtist - Boosey & Hawkes, MusicPublisher - 12 Ensemble, Ensemble, MainArtist
(C) 2023 Signum Classics (P) 2023 Signum Records
Benjamin Britten, Composer - Mary Bevan, MainArtist - Boosey & Hawkes, MusicPublisher - 12 Ensemble, Ensemble, MainArtist
(C) 2023 Signum Classics (P) 2023 Signum Records
Benjamin Britten, Composer - Mary Bevan, MainArtist - Boosey & Hawkes, MusicPublisher - 12 Ensemble, Ensemble, MainArtist
(C) 2023 Signum Classics (P) 2023 Signum Records
Benjamin Britten, Composer - Mary Bevan, MainArtist - Boosey & Hawkes, MusicPublisher - 12 Ensemble, Ensemble, MainArtist
(C) 2023 Signum Classics (P) 2023 Signum Records
Maurice Ravel, Composer - PUBLIC DOMAIN, MusicPublisher - Mary Bevan, MainArtist - Joseph Middleton, MainArtist - 12 Ensemble, Ensemble, MainArtist
(C) 2023 Signum Classics (P) 2023 Signum Records
PUBLIC DOMAIN, MusicPublisher - Benjamin Britten, Composer - Mary Bevan, MainArtist - Joseph Middleton, MainArtist - 12 Ensemble, Ensemble, MainArtist
(C) 2023 Signum Classics (P) 2023 Signum Records
PUBLIC DOMAIN, MusicPublisher - Benjamin Britten, Composer - Mary Bevan, MainArtist - Joseph Middleton, MainArtist - 12 Ensemble, Ensemble, MainArtist
(C) 2023 Signum Classics (P) 2023 Signum Records
PUBLIC DOMAIN, MusicPublisher - Henri Duparc, Composer - Mary Bevan, MainArtist - 12 Ensemble, Ensemble, MainArtist
(C) 2023 Signum Classics (P) 2023 Signum Records
PUBLIC DOMAIN, MusicPublisher - Emmanuel Chabrier, Composer - Mary Bevan, MainArtist - 12 Ensemble, Ensemble, MainArtist
(C) 2023 Signum Classics (P) 2023 Signum Records
PUBLIC DOMAIN, MusicPublisher - Ernest Chausson, Composer - Mary Bevan, MainArtist - Joseph Middleton, MainArtist - Ruisi Quartet, Ensemble, MainArtist
(C) 2023 Signum Classics (P) 2023 Signum Records
Claude Debussy, Composer - PUBLIC DOMAIN, MusicPublisher - Mary Bevan, MainArtist - Joseph Middleton, MainArtist - Ruisi Quartet, Ensemble, MainArtist
(C) 2023 Signum Classics (P) 2023 Signum Records
Claude Debussy, Composer - PUBLIC DOMAIN, MusicPublisher - Mary Bevan, MainArtist - Joseph Middleton, MainArtist - Ruisi Quartet, Ensemble, MainArtist
(C) 2023 Signum Classics (P) 2023 Signum Records
Claude Debussy, Composer - PUBLIC DOMAIN, MusicPublisher - Mary Bevan, MainArtist - Joseph Middleton, MainArtist - Ruisi Quartet, Ensemble, MainArtist
(C) 2023 Signum Classics (P) 2023 Signum Records
Claude Debussy, Composer - PUBLIC DOMAIN, MusicPublisher - Mary Bevan, MainArtist - Joseph Middleton, MainArtist - Ruisi Quartet, Ensemble, MainArtist
(C) 2023 Signum Classics (P) 2023 Signum Records
PUBLIC DOMAIN, MusicPublisher - Augusta Holmes, Composer - Mary Bevan, MainArtist - Joseph Middleton, MainArtist - Ruisi Quartet, Ensemble, MainArtist
(C) 2023 Signum Classics (P) 2023 Signum Records
PUBLIC DOMAIN, MusicPublisher - Augusta Holmes, Composer - Mary Bevan, MainArtist - Joseph Middleton, MainArtist - Ruisi Quartet, Ensemble, MainArtist
(C) 2023 Signum Classics (P) 2023 Signum Records
PUBLIC DOMAIN, MusicPublisher - Augusta Holmes, Composer - Mary Bevan, MainArtist - Joseph Middleton, MainArtist - Ruisi Quartet, Ensemble, MainArtist
(C) 2023 Signum Classics (P) 2023 Signum Records
PUBLIC DOMAIN, MusicPublisher - Augusta Holmes, Composer - Mary Bevan, MainArtist - Joseph Middleton, MainArtist - Ruisi Quartet, Ensemble, MainArtist
(C) 2023 Signum Classics (P) 2023 Signum Records
PUBLIC DOMAIN, MusicPublisher - Augusta Holmes, Composer - Mary Bevan, MainArtist - Joseph Middleton, MainArtist - Ruisi Quartet, Ensemble, MainArtist
(C) 2023 Signum Classics (P) 2023 Signum Records
Album review
There are several attractive features to this collection of French songs by soprano Mary Bevan. Start with the voice itself; Bevan's warm tone, rich without being thick, is wonderful right from the first note in Gabriel Fauré's Clair de lune, Op. 46, No. 2, and, in general, she has never sounded better. Her phrasing is confident and relaxes as she draws the listener on her own terms into the short Britten songs of Les Illuminations, Op. 18. Those songs point to a second positive feature: Bevan assembles a group of songs for the fairly unusual forces of soprano and string group, either the Ruisi Quartet or the full dodecatet of the 12 Ensemble in the Britten and several other pieces. This, too, works to Bevan's advantage; the 12 Ensemble is, in effect, conducted from the music stand by the singer (there is no conductor), and the show is all hers, although her usual fine accompanist, Joseph Middleton, is also present and careful. Some of the songs were arranged for these forces, either by their composers or by Robin Holloway, and a couple of these arrangements are world premieres. The program itself is also strong, with the aphoristic Britten pieces giving way to an atmosphere of almost unrelieved gloom in works by Ravel, Duparc, Chabrier, Chausson, and Debussy before lightening pleasantly in the songs by Augusta Holmès, an underrated composer, at the end. There are few complaints here, although Signum Classics gets the accent mark wrong on Holmès name, and the label's church acoustic washes out some of the finer distinctions in the string orchestra and string quartet settings. In general, a splendid outing from Bevan.
© James Manheim /TiVo
About the album
- 1 disc(s) - 26 track(s)
- Total length: 01:14:47
- Main artists: 12 Ensemble Mary Bevan Joseph Middleton
- Composer: Various Composers
- Label: Signum Records
- Genre: Classical Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred)
(C) 2023 Signum Classics (P) 2023 Signum Records
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