Southbank Sinfonia, Geoffrey Paterson & Volker Krafft - Massenet: Le Portrait de Manon - Berlioz: Les Nuits d'été (2019) [Hi-Res]

Opera Rara's commitment to upcoming young artists has been an essential part of the company's work since it began and this new release features a double bill of Massenet's Le Portrait de Manon and Berlioz's song cycle Les Nuits d'été, recorded from a live staged performances at the Royal Opera House with artists from the Jette Parker Young Artists Programme and the Southbank Sinfonia. This is the first time the composers Massenet and Berlioz have appeared as part of the Opera Rara catalogue.

Le Portrait de Manon (1894) From the opening bars of Des Grieux's celebrated air "Ah fuyez, douce image", the score is peppered with familiar quotations from Massenet's earlier work, Manon written 10 years before. Des Grieux (ZhengZhong Zhou) is now an old man, still obsessed with memories of his lost love Manon, and keeps a portrait of her in a sealed box. He is worried when his impressionable young nephew Jean (Hanna Hipp) tells of his love for a penniless girl, Aurore (Susana Gaspar), convinced that she is little more than a gold-digger. Persuaded by his friend Tiberge (Pablo Bemsch), Des Grieux comes to realise that their love is genuine when they discover the portrait and it is revealed that Aurore is, in fact, the niece of his beloved Manon.

Les Nuits d'été We are more familiar with hearing the cycle performed in concert by a solo voice but Berlioz did, in fact, intend these songs to be distributed amongst a number of different voice types, so it seems a natural choice to follow this arrangement for the young artists performing here.

The 1CD set, a live recording from a staged performance, comes with a lavishly illustrated book, including a complete libretto for Le Portrait de Manon and song translations for Les Nuits d'été and detailed notes on these pieces from musicologist Hugh Macdonald.

"le portrait de Manon is Massenet's sequel to Manon. The later opera follows Manon's lover, Des Grieux, into middle age, where we find him interfering in the affair between his nephew,Jean, and Aurore, Manon's niece. Conductwed by Geoffrey Paterson, Opera Rara's recording was made live during the 2011 revival by the Royal Opera's Jette Parker young artists. The best peformance comes from Pablo Bemsch as Tiberge, a poet who sorts out other people's problems.Volka Krafft takes over as conductor for its companion piece, Les Nuits d'Ete,whose songs are shared between Gaspar, Hipp and Bemsch in a performance of intensity." (Guardian)

"The Polish mezzo Hanna Hipp, firm in voice, constant in love as Jean, gives a enjoyable performance. Her voice has strength at the lower end of her register without being boomy or exaggerated." (IRR)

"A charming if slight piece, beautifully performed here under Geoffrey Paterson." (Gramophone)