Description
Renowned as one of the greatest lyric sopranos of the latter half of the twentieth century, Bethany Beardslee and her longtime collaborator, pianist Robert Helps, weave magical musical tapestries from the texts of Maurice Ravel’s Histoires Naturelles and Claude Debussy’s Ariettes Oubliées and Proses Lyriques.
The profound maturity and expressive purity of Beardslee’s and Helps’ performances here ensure that this disc will be the standard against which all future recordings of these works will be measured.
”"The interpretations show a marvellous awareness and intelligence."
—Fanfare
”"You and Bethany Beardslee are unbelievably a pleasure both separately and together. Once every 25 or 30 years a team works like that. Yours is the first I have encountered since Pierre Bernac and Francis Poulenc used to work together."
—Virgil Thomson (in a letter to Robert Helps)
PERFORMERS
Bethany Beardslee, soprano; Robert Helps, piano
PROGRAM
Maurice Ravel: Histoires Naturelles
1. Le Paon 4:48
2. Le Grillon 3:21
3. Le Cygne 3:17
4. Le Martin-pêcheur 3:01
5. La Pintade 3:02
Claude Debussy: Ariettes Oubliées
6. C’est l’extase langoureuse 2:53
7. Il pleure dans mon coeur 2:59
8. L’Ombre des arbres 2:54
Claude Debussy: Proses Lyriques
12. De rêve 6:04
13. De grève 3:26
14. De fleurs 5:35
15. De soir 4:00
ALSO AVAILABLE
for downloads and streaming on Amazon as well as other digital sites.
