Verdi
18 Songs

Norah Amsellem, soprano
Lydia Jardon, piano

AR 2004-8

Verdi
18 Songs

Norah Amsellem, soprano
Lydia Jardon, piano

AR 2004-8

Released after a first recital of French melodies in which Thierry Guyenne had highlighted "the vocal opulence and the dramatic committment of this French soprano", this program dedicated entirely to Verdi represents an even riskier strategy for Norah Amsellem. A confirmed talent is indeed necessary to navigate with ease in a repertoire which is close to opera but is only ostensibly easy and alluring, hiding in fact a good deal of difficulties. For each of these pages composed over the years, sometimes responding to a commission, often under the guise of a circumstantial hommage, it is necessary to find the most appropriate tone: not excessively dramatizing what should be a mere suggestion; coloring with subtlety what risks to become monotonous in the course of an hour or more. This is a difficult art, even more difficult than playing the standards with the support of an orchestra. Let it be recognized that Norah Amsellem gets through these obstacles pretty well, bringing to these melodies her already rich experience. One notices this in particular in the works that have a particular picturesque quality, where the tone is the most straightforward. Stornello, Lo spazzacamino or the Brindisi are interpreted vivaciously, with the necessary panache and gusto. The soprano, who is accompanied with great care and accuracy by Lydia Jardon, knows how to alternate emotion with lustre and short flights of lyricism with atmospheric evocations. In a melody such as Perduta ho la pace she displays a whole array of nuances, conserving the elegance that tempers this well-mannered passion. A beautiful work on the whole, this well-composed recital, which also has a very balanced technical approach, suffices in itself to justify Norah Amsellem’s ambitions.

France 2 Television
"Musiques au coeur"
7th March 2005

Norah Amsellem needs no introduction: this young soprano has made music lovers happy worldwide, since she sings all over Europe but also in Japan or the United States where her performances at the San Francisco opera or the New York Metropolitan have been hailed by the international press. She is accompanied by pianist Lydia Jardon, with whom she has recorded a CD of Verdi’s songs. Lydia Jardon is the creator of a very original festival: the Women in Music Festival on the island of Ushant, the so-called "Island of Women". She has also created a new, all-feminine record company: AR RE-SE (which means "those women there" in Breton), which publishes in this collection the CD of Verdi songs recorded during the summer of 2004.

ClassicsToday France
March 2005
Jacques Bonnaure

In addition to his operas, Verdi composed a rather small number of melodies. The first ones were brought together in a collection of six items in 1838, a year before the performance of Oberto, conte di San Bonifacio, his first opera. After a few stray pieces, another collection of six was published in 1845, a prolific year during which Alzira and Giovanna d’Arco were also composed. In the following years, Verdi publishes a few more melodies. The last one (Stornello) dates from 1869.
Most of these side lines were therefore composed during the « salad years » where the young composer produced one opera after the other, coining his personal style and breaking free from any earlier influence. That this quest, but also these influences, are perceptible in these melodies is thus not surprising. These songs are neither salon romances nor German-style Lieder but, more often than not, little drama scenes that could find their place in an opera or characteristic pieces which show how well Verdi could depict a character or a dramatic situation. These melodies are often performed live by opera singers, but there are few recordings of them. The most significant one is the complete songs by Renata Scott (Nuova Era). Norah Amsellem sings the two collections from 1838 and 1845, plus six separate songs. This young singer has already accomplished a fairly distinguished career as a lyrical soprano (Gilda, Micaëla, Liu, Violetta, the Contessa from the Nozze…). Her main asset is a quite beautiful tone which in certain sections possesses a color akin to Montserrat Caballé’s. The low register is well grounded and the voice powerful enough to render dramatic effects. Moreover, the breathing is perfect, as is the coloring which allows to diversify the musical effects and to give life to the phrases. (…)
This recital is well complemented by Lydia Jardon’s piano. Although the accompaniment is obviously not the most important part in these pieces, this interpreter, who has made such outstanding interpretations of Granados’s Goyescas or Rachmaninoff’s Third Concerto, makes it nimble, lively and dramatic.

There have been far fewer recordings of Verdi’s 25 songs (after the complete rendition by Renata Scotto in 1989 and the ulterior recording by Margaret Price) than of his opera arias, and indeed these songs’ relative sobriety may throw the listener off. Of course, Verdi is above all a playwright who can only fully express himself onstage. The arresting charm of these songs is, however, rendered with clarity even when the text is sung at a fast pace (Stornello). The inner intensity of Deh pietozo, the quiet emotion, as it were, of Il Tramonto, the burning sensuality of La Zingara, the harsh opposition between voice and piano in Il misero, are all present in this recording. Norah Amsellem’s beautiful timbre and her qualities of expression and nuance are a good match to Verdi’s seduction. Sometimes intimate, at other times glistening with popular verve, these pages serve as excellent encores for recitals but also deserve to be listened to as such.