Above: soprano Sabine Devieilhe
~ Author: Oberon
Thursday January 17th, 2019 - Sabine Devieilhe, soprano, with pianist Mathieu Pordoy in a program of French songs at Weill Hall. This was as perfect an evening of music as one could hope to hear. Performed without intermission, the finely-devised program kept the full house under a spell as both the soprano and her splendid pianist seemed to find the heart and soul of each work on offer. It goes without saying that Mlle. Devielhe's way with words in her native tongue was a special gift to her listeners.
Gowned in black, with a bejeweled belt, Mlle. Devieilhe seemed to captivate the crowd before she had sung a note. In her opening selection, Claude Debussy's "Nuit d'étoiles" (his first-ever song), the clarity and sheen of the soprano's singing immediately assured us that we were in for a memorable evening.
Two songs by Francis Poulenc, settings of poems by Louis Aragon - "C" and "Fêtes galantes" - were well-contrasted in mood, and beautifully sung and played. Poulenc's "Hôtel" perfectly captured the languid grace of a woman who simply wants to have a cigarette.
Above: pianist Mathieu Pordoy
The program now moved into less familiar territory: Maurice Delage's four-song cycle Quatre poèmes hindous (describing four cities in India) proved fascinating. Here, the indispensability of a great pianist for a program of song became amply evident: in the introduction and postlude to "Madras", Mr, Pordoy 's playing was intoxicatingly atmospheric. Mlle. Deveilihe's singing conjured up a magical palette of colours, and her vocalise and humming at the end of "Lahore" had a special charm. In "Bénarès", the birth of Buddha is described with a sense of ecstasy that threaded thru Mlle. Devieilhe's lovely tone. "Jaipur" ends with a hushed piano postlude, serenely played by M. Pordoy.
Four songs by Maurice Ravel followed. In "Ballade de la reine morte d'aimer", Mlle. Devielhe's shimmering sound rose to an exquisite high note, expressive of the heavenly rest of a queen who died of love. A mix of innocent delight and a hint of sweet seduction comes in "Chanson française", and in "Sur l'herbe", the soprano's sense of irony was a particular delight. Vocal beauty over a rippling piano motif creates a ravishing effect in "Manteau de fleurs" ("Coat of flowers"), which ends with a delicate expression from M. Pordoy's keyboard.
What a pleasure to hear the two Roussel songs which, like the Delage, seem to be so rarely performed. "Le jardin mouillé" ("The Wet Garden") was perhaps the most enchanting experience of the evening; M. Pordoy at the piano produced the sound of crystalline raindrops as Mlle. Deveilhe sang hauntingly of her solitary wistfulness, and of some unnamed regret. "Réponse d’une épouse sage" tells the story of a wife who receives two pearls as a sign of courtship from an admirer. She returns them, affirming her dedication to her husband but also acknowledging that, had she known of this other man's feelings sooner, life might have been different.
Debussy's "Romance", with its simple piano introduction, is a brief song about lost love. Yet again, Ms. Devieilhe found the perfect colours for the words...and her gorgeous, fading final note was sublime.
In another fairly rare song, Maurice Ravel's "Trois beaux oiseaux du paradis" ("Three beautiful birds of paradise"), the soprano sings the lovely bending melody of a woman whose beloved has gone off to war. In an evening where pianist and singer painted one luminous scene after another, this song seemed especially poignant.
Claude Debussy's ever-welcome Ariettes oubliées brought the program to an end. I have known and loved these songs for years, and the artistry of Mlle. Devieilhe and M. Pordoy gave me a marvelous re-connection to music that always seems fresh. Their performance was captivating, elegant. And in "Chevaux de bois", when the mood turns pensive and dusk falls over the beloved merry-go-round, a sweet nostalgia overtook me.
Offering an encore, Mlle. Devieilhe's simply brilliant performance of the "Air de Feu" from Maurice Ravel's L'Enfant et les sortilèges drew shouts of approval from the many opera-lovers in the audience. We would happily have listened to Mlle. Devieilhe bring forth Philene or Manon; and she might be the soprano to restore the two arias of Kitty from Menotti's Le Dernier Sauvage (created by Mady Mesplé) to currency. But instead of more opera, she and M. Pordoy bade us a delicious farewell with Poulenc's "Voyage à Paris".
Concert photo by Steve J Sherman, courtesy of Carnegie Hall
A magical evening of music is one that elevates the spirit, which this recital most surely did.
~ Oberon