Gabriella Swallow, Richard Bonynge and Sally Silver

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other well-known composers, among them Fauré and Delibes. Massenet continued to write songs throughout his career. His choice of poets was wide-ranging, with several great literary names (eg. Victor Hugo, Anatole France and Alphonse de Lamartine) rubbing shoulders with less well-known writers. All his songs show great sensitivity to the setting of text, with melodic lines and piano accompaniments encapsulating the emotions of the poetry with great skill. There are simple, strophic songs with unobtrusive, non-melodic accompaniments (eg. Avril est amoureuse and Guitare); more complex, through-composed narratives (eg. Ma petite mère a pleuré and Sonnet); quiet, almost aphoristic expressions (eg. Crépuscule and Que l’heure est donc brève) contrasting with more extrovert, expansive songs (eg. Enchantement and Ivre d’amour) or even dramatic, quasi-operatic compositions (eg. Jamais plus!). His final proper cycle, Quelques chansons mauves, appeared in 1902 to three poems of André Lebey. This cycle shows an ever greater inventiveness and freedom in the word setting and open-ended musical forms. Phrases and even entire songs end harmonically inconclusively, and the vocal line ranges from a simple parlando on one pitch to soaring melody where single syllables are drawn out over two bars. His last collection of songs, the Expressions lyriques were published in 1913, a year after his death. Here the word setting is at its most varied: lyrical style, recitative, melodrama or what Massenet called ‘déclamation rythmée’, which seems to anticipate the Sprechstimme of Schoenberg. There is only one cycle on this disc, the short Quelques chansons mauves, most of the other songs being individual compositions. Two (Crépuscule and Que l’heure est donc brève) come from other cycles, the Ave Maria is based on the Méditation from Massenet’s opera Thaïs, and one, La Verdadera Vida, was completed by the composer Marc Berthomieu and not published until 1933. Although interest in Massenet’s music declined soon after his death, Manon, Werther and Thaïs have remained firm favorites in the opera repertoire. Esclarmonde is perhaps Massenet’s most ambitious work for the stage and is his most Wagnerian in style and scope. The opera has been revived sporadically in the modern era, most notably in 1974 in San Francisco, in 1976 at the Metropolitan Opera, New York and in 1983 at the Royal Opera House in London with, on all occasions, Joan Sutherland in the title role, conducted by her husband and long term Massenet champion Richard Bonynge. Throughout his career Bonynge has conducted in most of the world’s leading opera houses. By doing some research and reading up on Massenet, Richard Bonynge discovered Massenet’s own statement about his opera Esclarmonde being his ”best achievement.” This filled Bonynge with curiosity, even more because Esclarmonde had sunken almost into total oblivion and had hardly been performed at all since the end of the 19th century. He obtained a vocal score of it in Paris and subsequently bought the full orchestral score from an auction in New York City. Although his wife, initially, was skeptical about it, Richard Bonynge became an enthusiast of the work and eventually convinced her that she should perform the role of ”Esclarmonde” herself. And so the San Francisco Opera, the Metropolitan Opera and the Royal Opera House Covent Garden premieres of it took place in 1974, 1976 and 1983 respectively. In 1977 he was the founding Music Director of Vancouver Opera Orchestra (at its creation), when he conducted Le Roi de Lahore staged there (in which also his wife took part). Bonynge made his Metropolitan Opera debut in 1966 with Joan Sutherland performing the title role in Lucia di Lammermoor. Over the last five decades, Bonynge also performed with many of the word’s great singers. He worked extensively with Tebaldi, Caballé, Scotto, Te Kanawa, Gruberova, Horne, Bartoli, Cossotto, Berganza, Domingo, Pavarotti, Kraus, Bergonzi, Aragall, Corelli, Gobbi, Siepi, Milnes, Ghiaurov and Ramey, etc. In the beginning his speciality (until early 1970s) was music of 18th and early 19th century, mostly in bel canto repertoire (Rossini, Bellini and Donizetti). He then gradually added also middle Verdi (La Traviata, Rigoletto, Il Trovatore), Offenbach (Les Contes d’Hoffmann), then also Massenet (Esclarmonde and Werther). He has also recorded over 50 operas as well as Delibes’s three ballets – La Source, Coppélia and Sylvia and Tchaikovsky’s three ballets – Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker plus countless others. Since 2007, he has conducted a series of performances in opera houses around the U.S. and performed regularly with Opera Australia where he was Musical Director from 1976 - 1986. During his tenure he introduced works previously unheard in the 20th century: Alcina, Semiramide, Les Huguenots, Lucrezia Borgia, Maria Stuarda, I Masnadieri, Dialogues of the Carmelites and Fra Diavolo. Over the past two years he has conducted a new production of Bellini’s La Sonnambula for Opera Australia, La Flûte Magique for the Cuban Ballet Festival and three Donizetti operas, Roberto Devereux, Maria Stuarda and Don Pasquale, in London and Athens and returned to Sydney to conduct a concert version of Handel’s Rodelinda at the City Recital Hall Angel Place. Richard Bonynge was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his services to music in 1977. In 1983 he was made Officer of the Order of Australia, and in 1989 a Commandeur de L’Ordre Natioanl des Arts et des Lettres. Made ”Socio d’onore”, R. Accademia Filarmonica di Bologna in 2007. In 2009 Bonynge was awarded the Sir Richard Heinze Memorial Award and in 2010 the Patron’s Award within the Critics’ Circle 4 25
SALLY SILVER Sally Silver started her career in her native South Africa, soon becoming one of the country’s most renowned singers appearing with all the major orchestras and opera companies and was awarded the OPSA prize for her outstanding operatic achievements in South Africa. Her extensive concert repertoire includes works by Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Mahler, Berlioz, Rossini, Dvorak, Verdi and Richard Strauss. In addition she has premiered works commissioned for her by Naresh Sohal: the Songs of Five Rivers (BBC Radio 3 broadcast with the BBC Symphony Orchestra) and Three Songs from Gitanjali with the Dante Quartet at Spitalfields Festival and the Wigmore Hall, with the Edinburgh String Quartet at the Dartington Festival and with the Medici String Quartet at the British Museum . Sally has appeared throughout Europe in a wide range of operatic roles including Marguerite Les Huguenots and Gilda Rigoletto in Metz; the four heroines Les Contes d’Hoffmann in The Netherlands, Rennes and Metz; Duchess Powder her Face (Adès) in Nantes, Copenhagen, Metz, Amsterdam and Berlin; Contessa Le Nozze di Figaro, Fiordiligi Così fan tutte for Longborough Festival Opera; Violetta La Traviata in The Netherlands and UK; Lucia Lucia di Lammermoor, Elvira I Puritani and Angelica Orlando for Scottish Opera; Aenchen Der Freischütz and Mila Palace in the Sky for ENO and recently Gounod’s Mireille for New Sussex Opera, Turnage’s Greek with Music Theatre Wales, and Handel’s Amadigi at the Wigmore Hall. Recordings include the role of Ariadne in The Bride of Dionysus by Sir Donald Tovey released on the Dutton Epoch label and the title role in Lurline by William Vincent Wallace conducted by Richard Bonynge, available on the Naxos label. On Guild she has released a CD of songs by Balfe, also with Richard Bonynge at the piano, and there is a CD of the songs of William Vincent Wallace planned for imminent release. RICHARD BONYNGE Richard Bonynge, AC, CBE is an Australian conductor and pianist. He was born in Sydney in 1930 and educated at Sydney Boys High School before studying piano at the NSW Conservatorium of Music. In London he studied with Herbert Fryer, a pupil of Busoni and also became a coach for singers. One of these was Joan Sutherland, whom he had accompanied in Australia. They soon married and became a duo, first (until 1962) doing recitals. When the current conductor for a recital of operatic arias became ill, Bonynge stepped in and, from that time on, conducted virtually all of his wife’s performances. Sadly Joan Sutherland passed away at their home in Switzerland in October 2010. His debut as staged opera conductor took place in 1963 in Vancouver, where he conducted Faust. The same year, also in Vancouver, he conducted Norma for the first time, starring Sutherland and Marilyn Horne. 24 [1] Ivre d’amour Grégoire d’Akhtamar Je suis ivre, je suis ivre d’amour, le jour en plein soleil, la nuit dans mes rêves. Je suis ivre, je suis ivre d’amour. Le printemps s’est épanoui... le jardin se pare de roses; le rossignol chante doucement; il brûle d’amour pour la rose vermeille. Je suis ivre, je suis ivre d’amour, le jour en plein soleil, la nuit dans mes rêves. Je suis ivre, je suis ivre d’amour. O soleil! o lune! Étoile du matin! O Vénus! Tu es une perle, un diamant précieux... Je suis ivre, je suis ivre d’amour, le jour en plein soleil, la nuit dans mes rêves. Je suis ivre, je suis ivre d’amour. [2] C’est l’amour Victor Marie Hugo (1802-1885) Oh oui! la terre est belle et le ciel est superbe; Mais quand ton sein palpite et quand ton oeil reluit, Quand ton pas gracieux court si léger sur l’herbe, Que le bruit d’une lyre est moins doux que son bruit ; Quand brille sous tes cils, comme un feu sous les branches, Ton beau regard terni par de longues douleurs; Quand sur les maux passés tout-à-coup tu te penches, Que tu veux me sourire et qu’il te vient des pleurs; 5 [1] Intoxicated with love Grégoire d’Akhtamar I am intoxicated, intoxicated with love, the daytime in the sunlight, the night time in my dreams I am intoxicated, intoxicated with love. Spring has bloomed The garden is adorned with roses The nightingale sings gently; He is burning with love for the crimson rose. I am intoxicated, intoxicated with love, the daytime in the sunlight, the night time in my dreams I am intoxicated, intoxicated with love. O sun! O moon! Star of the morning! O Venus! You are a pearl, a precious diamond… I am intoxicated, intoxicated with love, the daytime in the sunlight, the night time in my dreams I am intoxicated, intoxicated with love. [2] It’s love Victor Marie Hugo Ah yes! The earth is beautiful and the sky is superb; But when your breast throbs and your eye shines, When your graceful step runs so lightly on the grass, So that the sound of a lyre is less gentle than its sound; When under your eyelashes, like a fire under the branches, Your beautiful gaze glistens, softened by prolonged grief; When you suddenly dwell on past unhappiness And you want to smile at me but only tears come;
Page 1 and 2: GMCD 7393 � 2012 Guild GmbH © 20
Page 3: National Dance Awards at Covent Gar
Page 7 and 8: [27] Crépuscule from Poème Pastor
Page 9 and 10: Si je pouvais aimer encore C’est
Page 11 and 12: Célébraient du matin les premièr
Page 13 and 14: [19] Enchantement! Jules Ruelle (-1

Gabriella Swallow, Richard Bonynge and Sally Silver

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