Poulenc: La Voix humaine

Poulenc: La Voix humaine

On this CD:

  1. La voix humaine, opera, FP 171
    Composed by Francis Poulenc
    Performed by Orchestre National de Lille
    with Francoise Pollet
    Conducted by Jean-Claude Casadesus

Poulenc: La Voix humaine,Francis Poulenc,Jean-Claude Casadesus,Orchestre National de Lille,Francoise Pollet,Harmonia Mundi,Classical,French 20th/21st Century Opera,Opera


La Voix Humaine
Average customer rating: Not rated
    La Voix Humaine

    Manufacturer: Elektra / Wea
    ProductGroup: Music
    Binding: Audio CD

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    1. Bizet: The Pearl Fishers (Complete opera); Hendricks, Aler, Plasson, Capitole de Toulouse

    ASIN: B000005E7R
    Release Date: 1991-10-11

    Tracks:

    1. Introduction
    2. 'Allo... Ah! Cheri, c'est toi? On a vait coupe'
    3. 'Voila deux jours qu'il ne quitte pas la chambre'
    Poulenc: La voix humaine / Le bel indifférent
    Average customer rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    • Disturbing opera, but overall a strange package.
    Poulenc: La voix humaine / Le bel indifférent

    Manufacturer: Angel Records
    ProductGroup: Music
    Binding: Audio CD

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    1. Menotti - The Telephone / Poulenc - La Voix Humaine

    ASIN: B000025EOP
    Release Date: 2001-03-06

    Tracks:

    1. La Voix Humaine - Denise Duval
    2. Le Bel Indifferent - Edith Piaf

    Customer Reviews:

    4 out of 5 stars Disturbing opera, but overall a strange package........2001-03-15

    Anyone expecting a slice of impish whimsey from a Poulenc/Cocteau collaboration should be warned that this 1959 work is deeply harrowing, an unremitting one-act opera monologue, featuring an abandoned lover (sung by Daniele Duval) painfully breaking down over the telephone.

    the music, which faithfully serves the text, captures every quicksilver emotion of its heroine, from fear to wild hope to despair, with a mixture of spare underpinning and Hollywood lushness. Unfortunately, no libretto is included; unless you have pretty good French, the interplay between music and text will be lost - the music is not self-sufficient enough to enjoy on its own.

    But at least there is music. 'La Voix Humaine' is followed by another Cocteau monologue about another jilted lover volubly breaking down, this time played by Edith Piaf. this has nothing to do with Poulenc; it is a piece of recorded theatre, with only fragments of background gramophone music to soften the general austerity; Piaf closes her half-hour harangue with a very welcome chanson. Cocteau's simple French and Piaf's clear enunciation are easy enough to follow, but it seems a bizarre filler to offer an English-speaking classical music audience.
    Poulenc - La Voix humaine · La Dame de Monte-Carlo / Felicity Lott · Suisse Romande · Jordan
    Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    • They all agree: magnifique!
    Poulenc - La Voix humaine · La Dame de Monte-Carlo / Felicity Lott · Suisse Romande · Jordan
    Francis Poulenc , Armin Jordan , Felicity Lott , and Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
    Manufacturer: Harmonia Mundi Fr.
    ProductGroup: Music
    Binding: Audio CD

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    1. Poulenc - La Voix Humaine / Anne Sophie Schmidt, Jean-Luc Tingaud, Compiegne Opera
    2. La Voix Humaine: Vocal Score
    3. Poulenc: Figure humaine
    4. Menotti - The Telephone / Poulenc - La Voix Humaine
    5. Béla Bartók: Bluebeard's Castle

    ASIN: B00005QZE8
    Release Date: 2001-12-11

    Customer Reviews:

    5 out of 5 stars They all agree: magnifique!.......2001-12-29

    Surreally no doubt, thanks to some intellectual Swiss friends, the very first opera I knew was Poulenc's surreal Les Mamelles de Tiresias, in Cluytens' great 50s recording starring Denise Duval. As a teenager learning French, I devoured it and so, to this day, have been able to roll off pat the French terms for a combine harvester, an incubator or a fortune-teller. What I didn't know at the time but learned later was Denise Duval's very special status as a performer of Poulenc's works: the composer's own choice, a woman with great acting skills, beauty, glamour, charm, humour, charisma... and French.

    Any singer, especially a non-French one, who takes on Poulenc takes on, willingly or not, the Duval legend and will face stern scrutiny in France, where the "exception culturelle" is fairly fiercely guarded - and Duval's recordings of Poulenc remain benchmarks. Although it was clear to me that Dame Felicity Lott's new recording was first rate, I was still surprised when a French friend told me he thought it surpassed Denise Duval; and even more surprised to find the same opinion in the French press. Opinion here and in the UK seems indeed to be unanimous: "magnifique," as the reviewer in French magazine Opera International felt he had to say, twice. The disc immediately received a "Choc" award from Le Monde de la Musique (not a chocolate medal: pronounce it "shock") and a "10" from Repertoire.

    UK magazine Opera Now, wondering "whether she has done anything finer on disc," congratulates Felicity Lott for "persuading us that she is actually French." The amazing thing is that she has succeeded in persuading the French themselves, confirming, with this CD, her pre-eminence in French song: she is, it seems, the leading French soprano of the day.

    Both works, typical both of Cocteau and of Poulenc in the depiction of genteel tragedy, a nostalgia far more bitter than sweet with the sharp shock of unsuspected private pain behind the chic facade, are well suited to Felicity Lott's own stage persona, in line with her performances of Rosenkavalier and Capriccio - even if, like Duval, when necessary she can carry off to perfection the comic idiom, as her recent Belle Helene shows. And as ever - especially where French works are concerned, not just a detail - the pronunciation and diction are perfect, making this, incidentally, a perfect CD for anyone who loves or is learning French today, as I did thanks in part to Denise Duval some 30 years ago. But in any case, an essential disc for anyone interested in Poulenc, Cocteau, French song or opera. La Dame de Monte Carlo, just 7 minutes long, is, by the way, a gem.
    La Voix Humaine-Complete Opera
    Average customer rating: Not rated
      La Voix Humaine-Complete Opera

      Manufacturer: Phoenix USA
      ProductGroup: Music
      Binding: Audio CD

      All Works by PoulencAll Works by Poulenc | Poulenc, Francis | ( P ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music
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      ASIN: B00005YXZZ
      Release Date: 1997-05-27

      Tracks:

      1. La Voix Humaine

      Album Description

      Jean Cocteau used the simplest of plots and minimal theatrical elements to dwell upon a deep, wide range of unspoken human emotions. The old story of the abandoned young woman desperately but unsuccessfully trying to regain her lover, who has decided to marry another woman in two days, has been transformed by Cocteau in a theatrical tour-de-force full of drama, tension and anguish. For 50 minutes, this "elegant young woman" pleads with her lost lover, cries, reminisces incoherently, lies, suffers and loses reality, slowly but inexorably falling into a state of depression and irreparable sadness. She seems, finally, calm and reconciled, but as she protests for the last time her eternal love and devotion to her ex-lover, she strangles herself with the telephone cord.

      The play was premiered at the Paris Comedie-Francaise by Berthe Bovy in 1932, but the Poulenc version only came to life in 1959 at the Opera Comique, with Denise Duval. Cocteau was enchanted. He wrote to Poulenc: "My dear Francis, you have found the only way to say my text." Indeed, Cocteau had avoided the long poetic flights, using instead interrupted, almost staggered prose to communicate this woman's anguish. Poulenc seems to have captured every nuance, avoiding the easy flowing melodies, and concentrating on the expressive elements of the human voice, whispers, sighs, sobbing phrases. The theatrical tour-de-force became a real concerto for soprano, with great musical difficulties added to the challenge of supporting a long winding monologue. On the almost bare stage there is no action to speak of, just a young woman on a couch, and a telephone and, like in Wagner, the drama unfolds inside the character, while it is depicted in the music. Unlike Wagner, Poulenc has avoided the heated lyricism, following instead a pattern of broken prosaic sentences, and a drastic, almost hysterical change of moods.

      The obvious precedent would be Schoenberg's Erwartung, also a dramatic monodrama for solo soprano. However, there are hardly two more different works. Schoenberg's lyric, expressionist work is worlds apart from Poulenc's transparent, realistic vision. The common factor is the enormous difficulty for a single actress-singer to support the lone drama on an empty stage.
      La Voix Humaine
      Average customer rating: Not rated
        La Voix Humaine
        Poulenc
        Manufacturer: Capitol
        ProductGroup: Music
        Binding: Audio CD
        ASIN: B00004UZR8
        Release Date: 1990-10-25
        Poulenc: La Voix humaine
        Average customer rating: Not rated
          Poulenc: La Voix humaine

          Manufacturer: Sne Records
          ProductGroup: Music
          Binding: Audio CD

          All Works by PoulencAll Works by Poulenc | Poulenc, Francis | ( P ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music
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          ASIN: B000005KHB
          Release Date: 1997-02-18

          Tracks:

          1. La Voix Humaine
          2. La Voix Humaine
          3. La Voix Humaine
          4. La Voix Humaine
          5. La Voix Humaine
          6. La Voix Humaine
          7. La Voix Humaine
          8. La Voix Humaine
          9. Le Livre Blanc
          Poulenc: La Voix humaine
          Average customer rating: Not rated
            Poulenc: La Voix humaine

            Manufacturer: Harmonia Mundi
            ProductGroup: Music
            Binding: Audio CD

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            ASIN: B0000007IT
            Release Date: 1997-09-09

            Tracks:

            1. Allo, Allo... Mais Non Madame, Nous Sommes Plusieurs Sur La Ligne
            2. Quelle Comedie?... Allo... Qui?
            3. Je Ne Sais Pas Encore...
            4. Moi, Mechante?... Alo... Alo Cheri... Ou Es-Tu?
            5. Cheri... Cheri... Il Etait Quatre Heures Du Matin
            6. Pardonne-Moi. Je Sais Que Cette Scene Est Intolerable
            7. Allo, Allo... Madame, Retirez-Vous
            8. Je Sais Bien Qu'il Le Faut, Mais C'est Atroce...
            Rota: Il cappello di paglia di Firenze
            Average customer rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
            • An entertaining, live "Straw Hat"
            • I'd give this 0 stars if that were an option!
            Rota: Il cappello di paglia di Firenze

            Manufacturer: Gala
            ProductGroup: Music
            Binding: Audio CD

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            ASIN: B00000J8EH
            Release Date: 2000-06-06

            Tracks:

            1. Il cappello di paglia di Firenze: Introduction
            2. Il cappello di paglia di Firenze: Act I, Scene 1: May I Come In?
            3. Il cappello di paglia di Firenze: Act I, Scene 2, Unhitch My Horse There! (Fadinard)
            4. Il cappello di paglia di Firenze: Act I, Scene 3, In an Hour I'll Be Married. (Fadinard)
            5. Il cappello di paglia di Firenze: Act I, Scene 4, Come Right In, Boldly! (Fadinard)
            6. Il cappello di paglia di Firenze: Act I, Scene 5, It's All Over Now! (Fadinard)
            7. Il cappello di paglia di Firenze: Act I, Scene 6, Elena! (Fadinard)
            8. Il cappello di paglia di Firenze: Act I, Scene 7, But What A Lovely Situation. (Fadinard)
            9. Il cappello di paglia di Firenze: Act I, Scene 8, Signora, Come Out. (Fadinard))
            10. Il cappello di paglia di Firenze: Act I, Scene 9, It's All Over! (Fadinard)
            11. Il cappello di paglia di Firenze: Act II, Part I, Scene 1, Rapidly Flies Flies The Needle.
            12. Il cappello di paglia di Firenze: Act II, Part I, Scene 2, Signora Modiste, I'm In A Hurry. (Fadinard)
            13. Il cappello di paglia di Firenze: Act II, Part II, Scene 1, O My Dear Baroness. (The Baroness Of Champigny)
            14. Il cappello di paglia di Firenze: Act II, Part II, Scene 2, May I Come In, signore? (Fadinard)
            15. Il cappello di paglia di Firenze: Act II, Scene 3, Viscounts, Baronesses. (Fadinard)
            16. Il cappello di paglia di Firenze: Act II, Scene 4, Dear Signore, You Must Excuse Me. (Baroness, Fadinard)
            17. Il cappello di paglia di Firenze: Act II, Scene 5, A Winter Carnation? (Fadinared, Baroness)
            18. Il cappello di paglia di Firenze: Act II, Scene 6, Maestro, The Concert, If You Will. (Barnoess, Fadinard)
            19. Il cappello di paglia di Firenze: Act II, Scene 7, In Five Minutes I'll Slip Away With The Hat. (Fadinard)
            20. Il cappello di paglia di Firenze: Act II, Scene 8, The Baroness! (Fadinard, Baroness)
            21. Il cappello di paglia di Firenze: Act II, Scene 9, Baroness, But This Is Black! (Fadinard, Baroness, Elena)
            22. Il cappello di paglia di Firenze: Act II, Scene 10, Minardi! (Baroness, Elena, Fadinard)

            Tracks:

            1. Il cappello di paglia di Firenze: Act III, Scene 1, It's An Incredible Thing.
            2. Il cappello di paglia di Firenze: Act III, Scene 2, Here She Is, Finally! (Fadinard)
            3. Il cappello di paglia di Firenze: Act III, Scene 3. Who Has Ever Had.
            4. Il cappello di paglia di Firenze: Act III, Scene 4, What Are You Doing In There? (Fadinard)
            5. Il cappello di paglia di Firenze: Act III, Scene 5, Signora You Must Come In. (Elena)
            6. Il cappello di paglia di Firenze: Act III, Scene 6, My Father-In-Law! (Fadinard)
            7. Il cappello di paglia di Firenze: Act III, Scene 7, There You Are. I've Found You Finally!
            8. Il cappello di paglia di Firenze: Act III, Scene 8, Help! Help!
            9. Il cappello di paglia di Firenze: Act IV, Scene 1, Part 1, Through All Paris We Go
            10. Il cappello di paglia di Firenze: Act IV, Scene 1, Part 2, Now It's Eleven O'Clock
            11. Il cappello di paglia di Firenze: Act IV, Scene 2, There's A Storm Coming
            12. Il cappello di paglia di Firenze: Act IV, Scene 3, Ah, What A Terrible Hellish Day
            13. Il cappello di paglia di Firenze: Act IV, Scene 4, Psst! Hey There, You Rascal!
            14. Il cappello di paglia di Firenze: Act IV, Scene 5, Papa, I Love Him So
            15. Il cappello di paglia di Firenze: Act IV, Scene 6, Ah, My Spleen, My Spleen!
            16. Il cappello di paglia di Firenze: Act IV, Scene 7, Here Are The Presents
            17. Il cappello di paglia di Firenze: Act IV, Scene 8, He's Fit To Be Tied
            18. Il cappello di paglia di Firenze: Act IV, Scene 9, Hurry, Hurry, My Dear Lady
            19. Il cappello di paglia di Firenze: Act IV, Scene 10, Stop, Coachman!
            20. Il cappello di paglia di Firenze: Act IV, Scene 11, What An Uproar...It's Infernal!
            21. Il cappello di paglia di Firenze: Act IV, Scene 12, Everything's In Place!
            22. The Human Voice

            Customer Reviews:

            4 out of 5 stars An entertaining, live "Straw Hat".......2007-01-20

            SOURCE: Live performance at the Petite Salle in Brussels, March 6, 1976.

            SOUND: Details are not provided by the publisher, but this seems to be a true pirate recording. It was clearly recorded from the audience, as demonstrated by the close proximity of a horny-handed, bravo-shouting enthusiast (who, thank heaven, manages to restrain himself until the appropriate moments.) The orchestra is front and center, while the performers are noticeably distant and sometimes overwhelmed by the sounds emerging from the pit. All that notwithstanding, the mono sound isn't all that bad. It is certainly better than many of Callas' live recordings or almost anything emerging from the Salzburg Festival in the 1950s.

            CAST: Fadinard, a young, would-be bridegroom - Edoardo Gimenez; Nonancourt, Fadinard's short-tempered father-in-law to be - Gianni Socci; Elena, Fadinard's bride-to-be - Marielle Devia; Anaide, a lady who takes off her hat at intimate moments - Dolores Crivellari; Emilio, Anaide's lover - Manuel Gonzales; Beaupertuis, Anaide's jealous, well-armed husband - Federico Davia; The Baroness of Champigny, a lady with very definite ideas about violinists - Magda Olivero; Uncle Vezet - Augusto Pedroni; The Milliner - Katerina Moesen; Corporal of the Guard/The Viscount of Rosalba - Harmut Schmieder; A Guard/ Fadinard's servant - Jean-Jacques Schreurs. CONDUCTOR: Elio Boncompagni with the Orchestra of Theatre Royal de la Monnaie.

            COMPOSER: Nino Rota (1911-1979) was a member of a musical family. His mother was his first music teacher. Toscanini was a family friend and advisor. He was formally trained in both Italy and the United States. In Philadelphia he took classes in the orchestra from Fritz Reiner. Rota is, of course, best known for his film scores but he composed ten operas, five ballets and numerous orchestral pieces.

            THE OPERA: "Il cappello di paglia di Firenze" (The Florentine Straw Hat) is based on a famous 1851 farce by Eugene Labiche and Marc Michel called "Un chapeau de paille d'Italie." The great French film director Rene Clair used the story in 1927 for one of the best of the French silent film comedies "An Italian Straw Hat." In 1944, Nino Rota and his mother Ernesta wrote the libretto for "Il cappello." Rota worked on the score for a year or more but put it aside unfinished, with no prospect of a performance. In the mid-1950s, at the prompting of a friend who had heard parts of the score, Rota finished the piece and saw it premiered in Palermo in April 1955 with Jonel Perlea conducting.

            STORY: "Il cappello" is a farce about misunderstandings. Fadinard begins his wedding day by driving his carriage across Paris to check on the state of his new apartment. While passing through a wooded area, his whip gets entangled. He stops the carriage to retrieve the whip. His horse uses the pause as an opportunity to snack on an attractive straw hat conveniently hanging from a tree. Fadinard returns to be confronted by an indignant and very much married lady and her lover who is very much not her husband. The lady had removed the hat during an intimate moment with her lover. She cannot return to her suspicious husband without her hat. Fadinard, she and her lover insist, must provide a replacement and they will not listen to any trifling quibbles from him about his forthcoming wedding. Produce the hat, they say, or face a duel. The plot is now wound up like a top and ready to go spinning away. The wedding guests approach as Fadinard rushes off to find a replacement hat. Along the way he blunders into many misunderstandings, including one in which he is taken to be a virtuoso violinist, all to the growing annoyance of his prospective father-in-law.

            COMMENTARY: "Il cappello" is pretty much what one might expect from a mid-Twentieth Century Italian composer who was a close friend of Stravinsky but who did not buy into either the atonality of that century's music or its icy indifference to the human condition. For a hint of the sound of the opera and the approach it takes, consider the first scene of Puccini's "La Boheme," before the entry of Mimi and the lush melodies she brings in her wake. Extend that over the whole length of the opera and you have something very like "Il cappello."

            Although she is in a supporting role, the star of this performance is the great Magda Olivero, still in first youth at a mere 64 years of age. That lady was, and is, everything that an opera star ought to be. The very fine Marielle Devia, impresses as always, even in the too-small part of Elena. Edoardo Gimenez was, I think, one of those performers who is a delight to see, but one, alas, not blessed with a beautiful voice. On CD, he offers a workmanlike job. The rest of the cast is competent. The conducting and orchestra seem perfectly satisfactory in this not very heavily orchestrated work.

            I was drawn to this "Il cappello" by the negative Amazon reviews. Frankly, I wondered how any performance that boasted of both Olivero and Devia could possibly rate a single star. To tell the truth, I am still puzzled by Mr. Dowling's obviously honest and heartfelt disdain. For the moment, I can only assume that my reaction is so different from his because I have heard more truly lousy Twentieth Century operas than he has.

            I give "Il cappella di paglia di Firenze" full marks for being that rarest of commodities, an entertaining Twentieth Century opera--less one star for the lack of a libretto and the so-so sound. Four stars.

            A PERSONAL COMPLAINT ON PACKAGING: Gala has filled out Disk 2 with Olivero singing an eleven-minute bleeding hunk from Poulenc's "La voix humaine," recorded in San Francisco in 1979. Since "Il cappello" is about 104 minutes and "La voix" about 40, both could have been squeezed onto two disks. I, for one, would not have been bothered in the least by an awkward break in "Il cappello" in return for a complete "La voix."

            1 out of 5 stars I'd give this 0 stars if that were an option!.......2006-11-17

            Would someone please enllighten me about this opera? I've loved opera many years and have seen and listened to many operas over this period. Never have I heard (3 listenings to be fair) anything so trite and devoid of any worthwhile qualities as this. It starts with a nasty figure in the orchestra that goes on relentlessly and annoyingly until the chorus comes in -- then it's downhill from there. Signor Rota may have written fine background music for films but that clearly is no qualification for opera.

            Why would Gala and Opera d'Oro give this performance (likely its first) distribution when so many other good things go unrecorded. One thing fairly reliable about the opera audience is its general discernment in supporting good operas and dismissing stuff like this. It's not worth your purchase. I seriously would like to hear a proper defense of this piece. Otherwise, save your money.
            Poulenc: La Voix Humaine (The Human Voice) - Tragedie lyrique en un acte
            Average customer rating: Not rated
              Poulenc: La Voix Humaine (The Human Voice) - Tragedie lyrique en un acte
              Francis Poulenc , Jane Rhodes (soprano) , Orchestre National de France , and Jean-Pierre Marty (conductor)
              Manufacturer: INA, Memoire Vive
              ProductGroup: Music
              Binding: Audio CD

              All Works by PoulencAll Works by Poulenc | Poulenc, Francis | ( P ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music
              GeneralGeneral | Classical | Styles | Music
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              FrenchFrench | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
              ASIN: B00004SH9T
              Release Date: 2000-04-11

              Tracks:

              1. Allo! Allo!
              2. Allo! C'est Moi...
              3. Hier Soir J'ai Voulu Prendre Un Comprime
              4. Il Etait Quatre Heures Du Matin
              5. Pardonne Moi, Je Sais Que Cette Scene Est Intolerable
              6. Je Sais Qu'il Le Faut

              Amazon.com

              La Voix humaine is a monologue dressed up as an opera and a meditation on privacy in the Information Age. In 1958, French composer Francis Poulenc set a Jean Cocteau text for voice and orchestra (its spareness starkly contrasting with Poulenc's best-known opera--also issued as part of the Memoire Vive series--Dialogues of the Carmelites). The entire piece--sometimes spoken, sometimes sung, often treading the fascinating gray area in between--consists of a woman talking on the phone with an ex-lover. They argue, seduce, whimper. Or at least she does. We never hear his voice. When she isn't singing, the orchestra can be understood to suggest his words or to provide an emotional foundation for the conversation. This gimmick may not be a work of genius, but Poulenc is ingenious. Note how the timpani figure the telephone's ring. Or how the music sounds, at times, like a neighbor's radio. It's fascinating to recognize how quickly Cocteau's treatment of the phone has dated. In the modern world before mobile phones and scanners, one's paranoia was restricted to being overheard from an adjoining room. Jane Rhodes, the soprano, is extraordinary here. The level of verisimilitude--the extent to which this sounds like a diva experiencing a major breakup--can be harrowing or, for a voyeur, thrilling. --Marc Weidenbaum
              La Voix Humaine
              Average customer rating: Not rated
                La Voix Humaine
                Poulenc , Farley , Serebrier , and Adelaide Symphony
                Manufacturer: Chandos
                ProductGroup: Music
                Binding: Audio CD
                ASIN: B00007FPEZ
                Release Date: 1992-10-09

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