Natalie Dessay, Agnès Jaoui, Héléna Noguerra, Liat Cohen - Rio Paris

Styles: Vocal And Guitar Jazz
Year: 2014
File: MP3@256K/s
Time: 68:49
Size: 127,0 MB
Art: Front

(3:27)  1. Les eaux de Mars
(6:11)  2. Catendê
(4:25)  3. Manhã de carnaval
(2:56)  4. Etude No. 8
(4:53)  5. Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5
(1:51)  6. Modinha. Seresta No. 5
(3:00)  7. Prélude No. 2
(2:59)  8. Les mères Op. 45
(2:25)  9. L'oiseau blessé d'une flèche Op. 10
(5:31) 10. Chöro. Gavota
(4:24) 11. Agua e vinho
(4:27) 12. Chega de saudade
(3:28) 13. A felicidade
(4:07) 14. Samba em Préludio
(3:28) 15. Choro Lento, Retrato Brasileiro
(4:51) 16. Desafinado
(6:16) 17. Bidonville, Consolaçao

A major attraction of soccer's World Cup, and some would say the very best thing about it, is the musical component, with genre-crossing all-star vocal collaborations the norm. Who can forget Barcelona's unexpected and absolutely stunning duets between Montserrat Caballé and Freddie Mercury? This album may be the first in a flood of releases connected with the 2014 World Cup in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and if the games result in a new appreciation of Brazilian music they will have been well worth it from a musical standpoint. Brazilian music crosses over among classical, pop, and jazz without giving very much thought to the dividing lines, and the mix here touches on some of the major figures from each corner. The three singers and one guitarist are not Brazilian; singers Natalie Dessay and Agnès Jaoui are French; singer Helena Noguerra is Portuguese-Belgian; and guitarist Liat Cohen is French-Israeli. Some of the music is sung in Portuguese, some in French, but even in a French translation Dessay does not sound especially comfortable in Antonio Carlos Jobim's Waters of March (here, Les Eaux de Mars). 

Hearing her in Villa-Lobos, however, is an unexpected pleasure. Jaoui and Noguerra, both actresses as well as singers, have a reasonable feel for the material, although one wonders whether a Brazilian singer might not profitably have been included. Perhaps the album's best feature is Erato's studio engineering; the dimensions of the sound are ideal for the music, and the guitar is impressively well recorded. A reasonably satisfying souvenir of the World Cup. ~ James Manheim http://www.allmusic.com/album/rio-paris-mw0002654541

Personnel:  Natalie Dessay, Agnes Jaoui and Helena Noguerra (Vocal);  Liat Cohen (Guitar).

Rio Paris

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Natalie Dessay & Michel Legrand - Entre Elle et Lui

Styles: Chanson

Year: 2013
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 65:31
Size: 150,0 MB
Art: Front + Back

(3:23)  1. Chanson de Delphine
(3:06)  2. Le Cinema
(2:18)  3. Chanson de Delphine a Lancien
(4:31)  4. Papa Can You Hear Me?
(2:39)  5. Recette pour un Cake d'Amour
(4:09)  6. La Valse des Lilas
(3:06)  7. Les Moulins de Mon Coeur
(1:57)  8. L'Ame Soeur a l'Hamecon
(7:51)  9. What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?
(3:25) 10. Chanson des Jumelles
(3:24) 11. Le Rouge et le Noir
(2:02) 12. Conseil de la Fee Lilas
(6:14) 13. Duo de Guy et Genevieve
(3:04) 14. La Chanson de Louba
(2:02) 15. La Chanson
(2:55) 16. Paris Violon
(5:04) 17. The Summer Knows
(4:13) 18. Mon Dernier Concert

After her triumphs in the world’s great opera houses, Natalie Dessay crosses over. A tribute to the legendary Michel Legrand who has scored some of the most famous musical soundtracks. This autumn, starting in fine fashion with two concerts at Paris’ legendary ‘music hall’ the Olympia, she undertakes a tour of France with the celebrated composer and jazz pianist Michel Legrand.

Legrand trained at the Paris Conservatoire with no less a teacher than Nadia Boulanger and is known around the world for his haunting music for Jacques Demy’s 1964 film Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (The Umbrellas of Cherbourg), and for his work in Hollywood, which has brought him three Oscars: for his scores for the 1983 Barbra Streisand film Yentl and the 1971 film The Summer of’42, and for his song, ‘The Windmills Of Your Mind’, from the 1968 Steve McQueen movie The Thomas Crown Affair.

Dessay first became aware of Legrand at the age of six or so, when she saw another film directed by Jacques Demy, the fairy tale Peau d’âne. “At the time, I would never have imagined singing with him. Now we are good friends and I am lucky enough to work with him on a regular basis ... I think Michel Legrand is a genius, just as Mozart was a genius. He is also a melodic virtuoso. You hear two notes and you know it’s one of his songs.” Dessay describes popular song as “an art that can demand great refinement. A song like Georges Brassens ‘Saturne’ has as much value, for me, as an opera by Bellini. In opera, you open up and let go. In a popular song, like when your singing German lieder or French art-song, you have to concentrate your voice – to learn to say a lot with less power, especially if you are using a microphone.”

The album that Dessay and Legrand have recorded together is Entre elle et lui (Between Her and Him). With a focus on voice, piano, bass and drums, it includes Legrand’s Oscar-winners, a duet from Les Parapluies de Cherbourg – which brings Dessay together with her husband, the bass-baritone Laurent Naouri, the Lilac Fairy’s song from Peau d’âne (as sung in the film by the enchanting Delphine Seyrig), and the sisters’ sassy duet from Les Demoiselles de Rochefort, performed in Jacques Demy’s film by Catherine Deneuve and her real-life sister Françoise Dorléac, but appropriated here (in this) album by Dessay and fellow soprano Patricia Petitbon. A further special guest on the album is the distinguished harpist Catherine Michel, who is also Michel Legrand’s wife.  http://www.mdt.co.uk/dessay-natalie-michel-legrand-entre-elle-et-lui-erato.html

Entre Elle et Lui

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