Konstantin Wolff (baritone) - Victor Hugo In Music - French Songs on CD

Description

'Victor Hugo notoriously hated it when anyone tried to set his work to music. Opera composers, by and large, ignored his protestations, though others tended to be a bit more circumspect. This exceptional recital by bass-baritone Konstantin Wolff and pianist Trung Sam chronicles the attempts of francophone song composers to grapple with Hugo's poetry both during and after his lifetime. It's a disc of surprises and occasional failures. Hugo clearly inspired most composers to give of their best, as well as to stray, on occasion, into unfamiliar territory: Saint-Saëns is represented by a clutch of unknown songs that should be repertory pieces, and Fauré gets uncharacteristically angry over the political implications of 'L'Absent'. Lalo, as one might expect, turns Hugo into an impishly blatant eroticist, while Reynaldo Hahn is altogether more fin de siècle and discreet... Wolff, who otherwise sings with a virile, articulate elegance that is absolutely right both for the music and for Hugo's poetry. As an accompanist, Sam is spectacular, but never intrusive.' Tim Ashley, The Guardian, 13 February 2009