La traversée

Patricia Petibon

Released on 25/03/2022 by Sony Classical
Main artists: Patricia Petibon
Genre: Classical

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Both on the stage and in the studio, Patricia Petibon has shown the world that she’s audacious and extravagant: she’s thrown teddy bears at her audience; imitated exotic birds in her previous album L’Amour, la mort, la mer (Sony, 2020) and spiced things up with a variety of covers (of John Lennon and Michel Legrand), and she’s done it all with the most unlikely hairstyles. Patricia Petibon likes to tease her listeners and makes it her goal to awaken their inner child. Her irreverence is always respectful and tender, even though it can occasionally be met with criticism.

However, Petibon demonstrates her fine musical intellect in the album La Traversée, produced with Andrea Marcon, director of the baroque ensemble La Cetra (two long-time companions of the soprano). This album covers the 17th to the 19th century, from Purcell to Offenbach, and Petibon delivers the audience right into the heart of her journey: "The past, the present, the future, connected by transmission, form a whole. Each genius leaves his mark on the palimpsest of time. This heritage sails in our souls, and we [are] simple passers-by."

Petibon has maintained many of her mischievous traits: whistling at the end of Purcell’s Strike the Viol; spoken and sung voice in the work of Handel; hyper-theatrical performances in the operatic excerpts. However, there’s also more attention given to melancholy and contemplation here. In Stefano Landi’s Passacaglia della Vita (a somewhat frantic race towards death), Petibon’s interpretation represents a teary complaint in the face of the inevitable, as opposed to anger. The same can be said of Strike the Viol where the orchestra almost fades softly into the background to emphasise the vocals. This is in stark contrast to Christina Pluhar and the Arpeggiata’s version in 2002, which was unbelievably violent.

In recent years, Petibon has been preoccupied with international opera productions. Her voice has become fleshed out, leading to increasingly complex emotional registers such as those seen in beautiful extracts from Estinto è Idomeneo?… Tutte nel cor vi sento… and Oh Smania!... D'Oreste, d'Aiace taken from Mozart’s Idomeneo. The Soprano doesn’t suppress her natural conviviality and is simply hilarious in La Grande Duchesse de Géroldstein (Offenbach), where she showcases exceptional lyrical range with impeccable diction. As if to effectively counterbalance humour with a modicum of sobriety, the album finishes with a moving a cappella version of Purcell’s Here the Deities Approve; prolonged with the mystical, nocturnal sounds of nature. Whether it’s celebration, drama or spirituality, Petibon never fails to fascinate her audience before fading away into the mysteries of night. © Pierre Lamy/Qobuz

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La traversée

Patricia Petibon

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Come, Ye Sons of Art Away, Z.323: V. Strike the Viol

Patricia Petibon

00:03:52

Nicolas Bartholomée, Engineer - Henry Purcell, Composer - Patricia Petibon, Soprano, MainArtist - Arend Prohmann, Producer - Andrea Marcon, Conductor - La Cetra Barockorchester Basel, Orchestra - Hugo Scremin, Engineer - Ambroise Hemlinger, Assistant Engineer - DEAN H RISHEL, Arranger