Turbulent Heart

01/11/2009
Unknown
Les Éditions Romaines (France)

This month Les Éditions Romaines would like to highlight a release from Australia’s Melba Recordings, a label that places the most brilliant artists from that country into the spotlight. Overcoming the distance of oceans, you will be able to find in France and wider Europe generally—from 26 October 2009—this disc with the striking title: Turbulent Heart.   

For music devotees this release is unusual in more ways than just its title. The élan of this entire project is perhaps what strikes one most. Firstly, the conductor Guillaume Tourniaire, born in Provence, is not a stranger to recording studios. He first came to notice in 1993 when overseeing the formation of Le Motet, a vocal ensemble in Geneva. He is the principal conductor of the Prague Orchestra. At present, he works as a guest conductor with an important – and always growing – number of orchestras including the Orchestra dell’Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome, the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, the Orchestra del Teatro la Fenice in Venice, the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf, the Orchestre de Genève, the Orchestre National de France in Paris, the Ensemble Vocal et Instrumental de Lausanne, the Deutsches Kammerphilharmonie, the Seoul Camerata, the Orchestre National de Lyon, Teatro Sao Carlos Lisbona, Teatro Lirico di Calgari and Macerata Opera Festival.

So far as the tenor is concerned, Steve Davislim brings with him the ring of authenticity in the Chausson presented here; the Poème de la mer et de l’amour requires—if one follows the intentions of the composer—the vocal sound of a tenor which has heretofore never been recorded. Here we have, then, the wish finally fulfilled.

Another piece of which this turbulent heart is comprised, from 1912, is a setting of the poem Les Djinns of Victor Hugo. It makes the case for composer Louis Vierne who wrote at the turn of the 19th to the 20th centuries and whose compositions were mostly songs and vocal music.                  

Les Éditions Romaines is ready to bet that a lot of you will be discovering these pieces, practically unheard of, thanks to Melba Recordings. For the rest, let’s hasten to add that the label has not skimped over the packaging. Its presentation is of a standard not common amongst standard European labels. Think, then, of this release as an end of the year gift that will confer on you, the giver, status as a person of perfect taste and great musical knowledge. This recording has already been crowned with an Opus d’Or (Golden Opus) from Opus Haute Définition.