The holiday season brings us its share of classical or lyrical music to offer. Four exceptional CDs, all from Atma Classique (Quebec’s independent classical record label, based in Montreal) specifically caught our attention.
NELLIGAN
Music André Gagnon Libretto Michel Tremblay
More than 30 years after its creation on stage, the opera NelliganofAndre Gagnon and Michael Tremblay, reborn on disc in its integral version. The operato Nelligan retraces the great moments in the tragic life of the “national poet”, born in 1879 and died on November 18, 1941, after having spent more than 40 years confined to the Saint-Jean-de-Dieu psychiatric hospital in Montreal. Nelligan’s cast is made up of the 15 actor-singers from the Théâtre du Nouveau Monde production, presented in Montreal in 2020. Among the performers is the popular tenor Marc Hervieux in the role of old Nelligan and the famous baritone Dominique Cote in that of young Nelligan. Kathleen Fortin takes over the role of the poet’s mother, Frayne McCarthy interprets Nelligan father, while Linda Sorgini embodies that of Françoise, and Jean Maheux, that of Father Seers. The excellent cast renders all the eloquence and magnificence of the texts, subtly accompanied by the elegant and moving music of AAndré Gagnon, adapted for two pianos and a cello. A portrait of Émile Nelligan of the Quebec painter Mathieu Laca illustrates the cover of the album and was inspired by one of the famous photos of the poet. ATMA Classique presents this album in a digipack format including the full text of the opera’s libretto by Michael Tremblay.
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Albertine in five stages
Almost 40 years ago, Michael Tremblay created Albertine in five stages and told us the story of all women through the words of one woman at five points in her life. This piece has become a staple of the theatre, then more recently an opera, which spans the years thanks to the strength of the themes, which are still current, the musicality of the text and the subject which places women in search of freedom.
In partnership with Productions du 10 avril, ATMA Classique now offers the album Albertine in Five Times – The Opera, to music by Catherine Major and a libretto by Collectif de la lune rouge, based on the play by Michel Tremblay. Six great lyrical voices from Quebec bring the music of Catherine Major that is Chantal Lambert (Albertine at age 70), Monique Page (Albertine at age 60), Chantal Dionne (Albertine at age 50), Florence Bourget (Albertine at age 40) and Catherine St-Arnaud (Albertine at age 30) and Marianne Lambert (Madeleine). Albertine in Five Times – The Opera features a 70-year-old woman (Chantal Lambert) who, in her room in a CHSLD, recalls her memories at different stages of her life. The recording was made at the Domaine Forget concert hall in Charlevoix following the creation of the work at the Théâtre du Rideau Vert in a staging by Nathalie Deschamps last September.
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Consolations by Antoine Malette-Chénier
Touching the soul and vibrating with others through music has always been at the center of the harpist’s artistic practice. Antoine Malette-Chenier. This first solo album calls on the great evocative power of romantic music, like an intimate recital conducive to communion and the sharing of emotions. The harpist introduces works for the harp, original or transcribed, many of which are recorded for the first time. They touch on everything that can console and sublimate the human experience: beauty, nature, love, spirituality, dance, poetry. Sometimes dark, sometimes luminous, contemplative or dramatic, the musical pieces on the program accompany the listener on a path of delight and hope.
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Tango Suite
As of December 9, it will be possible to obtain Tango Suitea new album created by two outstanding artists: Stephane Tetreault on the cello and Denis Plante in bandoneon. The two virtuosos have come together to interpret a collection of melodies that will surprise you with the variety of its pulsations and the sensuality of its passionate outbursts. By its original form, the new opus of Denis Plante is inspired by Suites for solo cello by Johann sebastian bach by offering a singular musical universe where the tango is ennobled and scholarly music is bewitched.