Chausson - Poeme de l’amour et de la mer, Symphony in B flat

Alexandre Bloch, Veronique Gens (soprano), Orchestre national de Lille

At least outside of his native France, Ernest Chausson – best known for his ubiquitous Poème for violin and orchestra – is one of the more underrated figures of that generation of Gallic composers who fell under the spell of Wagner in the last two decades of the 19th century. So it’s a real pleasure to welcome a new disc from Alpha which couples two of his greatest masterpieces, the orchestral song cycle Poème de l’amour et de la mer (1893) and the Symphony in B flat major (1891), especially as they are in fine performances by native French forces.

In the song cycle, which sets six poems by Maurice Bouchor, grouped in two movements separated by a central interlude, the Orchestre National de Lille under its music director Alexandre Bloch, are joined by soprano Véronique Gens. She started her career as an early music specialist, before moving to Mozartian roles and then embracing a far wider repertoire, and this Chausson recording may well be one of her finest achievements to date. She has a native French speaker’s feel for Bouchor’s texts, coupled with a silken vocal quality that combines clarity with warmth, achieving radiance without overbrightness – an admirable skill, and one tailor-made for Chausson’s gentle-hued opulence.

The cycle tells of love and loss, pain and nostalgia, with the sea standing as a symbolist representation for the expanse of eternity, and Spring (in the closing ‘Le Temps des lilas’) as a metaphor for past happy times. Without recourse to unwonted exaggeration, Gens and the Lille musicians capture every twist and turn of the poems, every subtle nuance deftly coloured with magical singing and playing. Woodwind and strings are particularly outstanding, whether in the Ravel-like swirls that seem to capture the essence of the ever-present sea, or in the many telling instrumental solos, while the brass provide rich support. After the achingly poetic orchestral Interlude, the work’s second part culminates in a rapt account of ‘Le Temps des lilas’ which only the hardest-hearted could possibly resist: this is Gens at her most expressively involving, and she is in complete harmony with orchestra and conductor throughout.

Bloch and his orchestra then get their time in the spotlight with the three-movement Symphony, behind which stands the influence of Chausson’s teacher and close friend César Franck, who died in 1890. On one level, the Symphony can be seen as a tribute from student to master, but with Chausson’s own distinctive feel for orchestral chiaroscuro, which is beautifully served by the Lille musicians. The outer movements are unerringly paced by Bloch, poetic expressiveness and moments of high drama experly balanced, but it is the central slow movement, with its tangible echoes of Tristan and Parsifal, that is the real highpoint here and forms the work’s beating heart. The string voicing in particular, and the way in which the middle strings combine with woodwind solos, serve as a masterclass in how this music should be played. This is not the first time in recent years that we have admired the Lille orchestra, and on the strength of the playing here they are clearly a force to be reckoned with in French music-making, weaving a very special spell around the music’s magical textures.

At just over an hour in length, this combination of two of Chausson’s finest scores in wholly idiomatic performances is one to savour again and again, the musicians expertly served by the Alpha team, and it makes an ideal starting point from which to start (or resume) exploring the music of this fascinating French master. Gens’ contribution also makes it one of the undoubted vocal highlights of 2019 so far. What’s not to like?