Jodie Devos: Bijoux perdus
£14.49
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Label: Alpha
Cat No: ALPHA877
Format: CD
Number of Discs: 1
Genre: Opera
Release Date: 23rd September 2022
Contents
Works
Le Bijou perdu » Pour rester en cette demeure (Air de Toinon)
La Part du diable » Le singulier recit qu'ici je viens d'entendre (Air de Carlo)
Manon Lescaut » Plus de reve qui m'enivre (Air de Manon)
Jaguarita l'indienne » A moi, ma cohorte guerriere... Approchons, approchons... Et maintenant filles des bois
Galathee » Que dis-tu? (Air de la lyre)
L'Etoile du nord » Veille sur eux ... Vaisseau que le flot balance
Le Pardon de Ploermel » Ombre legere (Act 2)
Le Songe d'une Nuit d'Ete » C'est un reve (Air d'Elisabeth)
» Le voir ainsi! (Cavatine d'Elisabeth)
Mignon » Oui! pour ce soir ...Je suis Titania
Artists
Jodie Devos (soprano)Flemish Radio Choir
Brussels Philharmonic
Conductor
Pierre BleuseWorks
Le Bijou perdu » Pour rester en cette demeure (Air de Toinon)
La Part du diable » Le singulier recit qu'ici je viens d'entendre (Air de Carlo)
Manon Lescaut » Plus de reve qui m'enivre (Air de Manon)
Jaguarita l'indienne » A moi, ma cohorte guerriere... Approchons, approchons... Et maintenant filles des bois
Galathee » Que dis-tu? (Air de la lyre)
L'Etoile du nord » Veille sur eux ... Vaisseau que le flot balance
Le Pardon de Ploermel » Ombre legere (Act 2)
Le Songe d'une Nuit d'Ete » C'est un reve (Air d'Elisabeth)
» Le voir ainsi! (Cavatine d'Elisabeth)
Mignon » Oui! pour ce soir ...Je suis Titania
Artists
Jodie Devos (soprano)Flemish Radio Choir
Brussels Philharmonic
Conductor
Pierre BleuseAbout
After her triumph with the album Offenbach Colorature (ALPHA437), Jodie Devos has chosen to follow in the footsteps of one of her compatriots, the Belgian coloratura soprano Marie Cabel (1827-1885), who at the age of twenty-six scored a phenomenal success in Adolphe Adam’s opéra-comique Le Bijou perdu, which she premiered in Paris. She then took on a more dramatic role in Halévy’s Jaguarita l’Indienne, whose great Invocation with chorus (‘À moi, ma cohorte!’) again hit the bullseye in a run of 124 performances over just a few months. Cabel enjoyed one hit after another, in Auber’s Manon Lescaut and La Part du diable, Meyerbeer’s L’Étoile du Nord and Le Pardon de Ploërmel, Victor Massé’s Galathée, and Le Songe d’une nuit d’été by Ambroise Thomas, who in 1866 gave her the biggest role of her career: Philine in Mignon, based on Goethe. In partnership with the musicologists of the Palazzetto Bru Zane, who have resurrected and edited all these unjustly forgotten rarities, and Pierre Bleuse conducting the Brussels Philharmonic and the Flemish Radio Choir, Jodie Devos pays tribute to this star of the nineteenth century, whose audacity and sense of mischief she undoubtedly shares!
Sound/Video
Paused
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1Galathee, Act I Que dis-tu (Galathee)
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2Le pardon de Ploermel, Act II, Scene 3 Ombre legere (Dinorah)
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3Le songe d'une nuit d'ete, Act I Le voir ainsi (Elisabeth)
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4Jaguarita l'Indienne, Act II, Scene 6 A moi, ma cohorte guerriere (Jaguarita, Choir)
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5Jaguarita l'Indienne, Act II, Scene 6 Approchons, approchons (Jaguarita, Choir)
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6Jaguarita l'Indienne, Act II, Scene 6 Et maintenant filles des bois (Jaguarita, Choir)
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7Le bijou perdu, Act III Pour rester en cette demeure (Toinon)
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8Manon Lescaut, Act II Plus de reve qui m'enivre (Manon)
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9La part du diable, Act I Le singulier recit qu'ici je viens d'entendre ! (Carlo)
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10L'etoile du nord, Act I Veille sur eux toujours (Catherine)
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11L'etoile du nord, Act I Allons donc, plus de tristesse
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12Le songe d'une nuit d'ete, Act III C'est un reve qui s'acheve à l'instant (Elisabeth)
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13Mignon, Act II Oui, pour ce soir je suis reine des fees !
Europadisc Review
Coloratura soprano Jodie Devos made her mark in 2019 with a stunning album for the Alpha label entitled ‘Offenbach Colorature’. Now she cements her reputation as one of the finest current coloratura artists with a tribute to fellow French-Belgian singer Marie Cabel (1827-1885), best remembered today for creating the role of Phidile in Ambroise Thomas’s Mignon (1866). Cabel made her operatic debut in 1848, but her breakthrough came in 1853 as Toinon in the première of Adolphe Adam’s Le Bijou perdu. From then, her star shone brightly in a string of hits, many at Paris’s Opéra-Comique; but by the mid-1870s her career was effectively over, and increasing mental instability meant that her final years were spent in an asylum, dying in destitution.
Though loved by audiences and hailed for her technical capabilities, critics targeted Mme Cabel for what they saw as a lack of musicality, with the most hostile caricaturing her harshly as a flawless automaton. Happily, these are not charges that could never be made against Ms Devos. Her light, youthful voice is technically impeccable and wonderfully focussed, and she enters fully into the character of each of the roles in this all-French programme. She positively relishes the cascading embellishments that were such a Cabel trademark, and her gleaming tone is gloriously even throughout the range, right up to some staggering top notes.
The disc opens with the brooding harp cadenza that opens the ‘Lyre Song’ from Victor Massé’s Galathée, and Devos starts the title character’s number in pensive mood, before the gently swaying strains of ‘Fleur parfumée’ set the aria in motion, the coloratura emerging in teasing hints. The fun really starts with the polonaise-like final section ‘Mais quel transport... Accourez, rois du monde!’ which, with attentive accompaniment from the Brussels Philharmonic under Pierre Bleuse, rises (and falls, and rises again!) to a brilliant climax.
The spirit of the dance is in evidence again for Dinorah’s waltz-song ‘Ombre légère’ from Meyerbeer’s Le Pardon de Ploërmel (1859), a role created by Cabel. Meyerbeer’s first opinion of Cabel’s singing was guarded, but by 1859 he had clearly come round to her. Devos’s performance here, in a number that ranges from light-spirited to fancy to introspection and back, is a constant joy. Particularly striking are the echo effects deployed so strikingly near the end, and the qualities that seduced Hector Berlioz, the stylishness, acting ability and impeccable accuracy, likewise shine through here.
Élisabeth’s cavatina ‘Le voir ainsi from Le Songe d’une nuit d’été is the first of three tracks on the album from the pen of Ambroise Thomas: sensitively accompanied by the Brussels players, it serves as an oasis of tranquility before the exotic delights of the invocation scene from Halévy’s Jaguarita l’Indienne (1855), a dramatically demanding title role in an opera that enjoyed considerable public success. Devos cuts a formidable figure in the central section ‘Approchons, approchons’, ably partnered by the chorus of the Flemish Radio Choir, but it is the spectacular fireworks of the closing section, ‘Et maintenant filles des bois’, that provide the real thrill here.
The central point of the disc is Toinon’s romance ‘Pour rester en cette demeure’ from Le Bijou perdu (‘The Lost Jewel’). Although its ending is typically flamboyant, this is for the most part a melancholic number which highlights the more reflective and expressive side Ms Devos’s voice to marvellous effect, supported with some wonderfully nuanced playing from the Brussels woodwind section. Bleuse and his players set the atmosphere perfectly for Manon’s aria ‘Plus de rêve qui m’enivre’ (an unexpected and welcome change from the better-known ‘Laughing Song’) from Auber’s Manon Lescaut: it’s a fascinating early take on a story better known from the pens of Massenet and Puccini. Another Auber aria is ‘Le singulier récit qu’ici je viens d’entendre!’ from La Part du diable, a ‘trouser role’ for high soprano as Carlo Broschi (aka Farinelli!); the vocal pyrotechnics may be of a very different nature from those sung by the historic Farinelli, but this enchanting number, with its hints of martial swagger, serves as a splendid tribute-within-a-tribute.
The expressive demands rise to new levels in magical accounts of Catherine’s Act 1 ‘Prayer and Barcarolle’ from Meyerbeer’s L’Étoile du Nord. Further highlights in an album positively overflowing with delights are the final two numbers (both by Ambroise Thomas): a rapt, limpid account of Élisabeth’s ‘C’est un rêve qui s’achève à l’instant’ from Le Songe d’une nuit d’été, and the wonderfully poised and uplifting Polonaise for Philine from Mignon. It’s the ideal ending to an enthralling tribute, and Ms Devos’s multifaceted, supple, pliable and spectacular voice shines through in every number. These ‘Bijoux perdus’ become in her hands ‘Bijoux retrouvés’. Altogether a spellbinding album, recommended with the greatest enthusiasm!
Reviews
Devos is superbly equipped. There also seems to be no top note that she can’t reach. No strain, no squawking, just a lively pirouetting voice hitting an impossible bull’s-eye: it’s a spine-tingling sensation.The Times
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