Nuits Véronique Gens & I Giardini

• Guillaume Lekeu (1870 - 1894):
• 1Trois poèmes: 3. Nocturne04:53
• Gabriel Fauré (1845 - 1924):
• 2La bonne chanson, Op. 61: III. La lune blanche luit dans les bois02:34
• Hector Berlioz (1803 - 1869):
• 3Les nuits d'été, H 81: VI. L'île inconnue03:21
• Fernand de la Tombelle (1874 - 1947):
• 4Orientale05:08
• Jules Massenet (1842 - 1912):
• 5Nuit d'Espagne03:15
• Camille Saint-Saëns (1835 - 1921):
• 6Désir de l'Orient05:53
• Ernest Chausson (1855 + 1899):
• 7Chanson perpétuelle06:26
• Franz Liszt (1811 - 1886):
• 8La lugubre gondola, pour violoncelle et piano, S. 13409:19
• Guy Ropartz (1864 - 1955):
• 9Quatre poèmes: Ceux qui, parmi les morts d'amour02:38
• Gabriel Fauré:
• 10Après un rêve02:33
• Charles-Marie Widor (1844 - 1937):
• 11Quintette avec piano No. 14 en ré mineur, Op. 7: III. Molto vivace03:51
• Marcel Louiguy (1916 - 1991):
• 12La vie en rose04:32
• André Messager (1853 - 1929):
• 13L'amour masqué: J'ai deux amants02:48
• Reynaldo Hahn (1874 - 1947):
• 14Une revue: La dernière valse04:29
• Total Runtime01:01:40

Info for Nuits

As the symbiosis between the art of the poet and that of the composer, the French mélodie became the jewel of the salons of the ‘Belle Époque’. By placing a string quartet and a piano around the singer, Chausson’s Chanson perpétuelle, Lekeu’s Nocturne and Fauré’s La Bonne Chanson oscillate between chamber musical intimacy and orchestral ambition. Alongside these famous pioneering pieces, this programme devised by the Palazzetto Bru Zane champions a return to the art of transcription, so popular in the nineteenth century, with the aim of expanding the repertory for voice, strings and piano in order to unearth some forgotten treasures. Hence Hahn, Berlioz, Saint- Saëns, Massenet, La Tombelle, Ropartz, Louiguy and Messager all appear in a programme whose guiding thread is the emotions of nocturnal abandonment: the charms of twilight, the trajectory of dreams, the terror of nightmare or the exhilaration of festive occasions. Alexandre Dratwicki has made these arrangements in the style of the nineteenth century. Appropriately enough, the programme ends with La Vie en rose, for this music offers a kaleidoscope of all the colours of human feeling. The texture of solo strings and piano sets Véronique Gens’s incomparable storytelling artistry in a new light.

Véronique Gens, soprano
I Giardini

Veronique Gens
A prominent Baroque performer in recent years, soprano Véronique Gens has also become recognized as one of the word’s finest Mozart singers. Her success in the role of Donna Elvira in DON GIOVANNI at the Aix-en-Provence Festival under Claudio Abbado and Peter Brook was followed by appearances at the major European opera houses and festivals. She has worked with such orchestras as the Berlin Philharmonic, Age of Enlightenment, Orchestre National de France, Orchestre de Paris, Rome’s Santa Cecilia, the Royal Flanders Philharmonic Orchestra, the Lyon Opera Orchestra, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, les Arts Florissants and Les Talens Lyriques and with conductors including Claudio Abbado, Charles Dutoit, Frans Brüggen, Louis Langrée, William Christie, Marc Minkowski, John Neschling, Wyung-Whun Chung, Ivor Bolton, Jean-Claude Malgoire, Jean-Claude Casadesus, Christophe Rousset, Trevor Pinnock, Sir Neville Marriner, Marek Janowski, Marcello Viotti, Thomas Hengelbrock, Serge Baudo and Sebastian Weigle.

Recent performances have included ALCINA in Hamburg, DON GIOVANNI in Liceo in Barcelona and Madrid, Glyndebourne, Paris and at the Theatre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels, at the München Bayerische Staastoper, Wiener Staatsoper and at Covent Garden in London, LE NOZZE DI FIGARO in Aix-en-Provence, in Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, in Tokyo and at the München Bayerische Staatsoper, CLEMENZA DI TITO in Dresden, in Liceo in Barcelona, in La Monnaie in Brussels and at the Wiener Staatsoper, COSI FAN TUTTE in Tokyo and Baden-Baden, a new production of Cavalli's LA CALISTO, DON GIOVANNI, PELLÉAS ET MÉLISANDE at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Lully’s ALCESTE in Paris, and LA FINTA GIARDINIERA at the Salzburg Festival as well as numerous concerts and recitals in Dresde, Copenhague, Paris, Luxembourg, Lille, Salzburg, Lisbonne, New York, at the Wigmore Hall in London, Tanglewood, Strasbourg, Stockholm, Berlin, Edinburgh, Prague, etc... In the passed seasons she broadened her repertoire in Lyon with THE MERRY WIDOW and she was Alice in FALSTAFF at the Baden-Baden Festival, Nantes and at the München Bayerische Staastoper,

Recent projects include new productions of Martin y Soler's IL BURBERO DI BUON CUORE at the Teatro Real Madrid and Liceo in Barcelona and Rameau's CASTOR ET POLLUX at the De Nederlandse Opera Amsterdam, DON GIOVANNI in Dresden, at the Wiener Staatsoper and at Covent Garden in London, IPHIGENIE EN AULIDE at the Theatre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels and Amsterdam, IPHIGENIE EN TAURIDE in Theater an der Wien in Vienna, LA CALISTO at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, ALCESTE in Aix-en-Provence, Salzburg and at the Wiener Staatsoper, NIOBE at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden and Eva in DIE MEISTERSINGER VON NÜRNBERG in Liceo in Barcelona, Madame Lidoine in DIALOGUES DES CARMELITES at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées. Future projects include ALCESTE by Gluck, at the Opera de Paris and LA BELLE HÉLÈNE by Offenbach at the Opéra de Genève, Desdemona in OTELLO by Verdi at the Wiener Staatsoper and numerous concerts and recitals.

Elected “Singer of the Year 1999” by the French “Victoires de la Musique”, Véronique Gens has made over 70 recordings, a selection of which has been awarded international prizes.

Her recordings include French songs with Roger Vignobles, Mozart arias with Ivor Bolton, Handel Cantatas, Ravel’s ALYSSA with Plasson, Berlioz’s LES NUITS D’ETÉ with Langrée, Scarlatti’s SANTISSIMA TRINITÀ with Biondi, DON GIOVANNI with Harding, L’ORFEO with Haïm, all for EMI/Virgin, as well as LE NOZZE DI FIGARO and COSI FAN TUTTE with Jacobs for Harmonia Mundi, AGRIPPINA with Malgoire for Dynamic, LES CHANTS D’AUVERGNE (Vol. 1 - Jean-Claude Casadesus – Naxos Best Seller 2006) (Vol. 2 – Serge Baudo – Naxos), and, most recently, "Tragédiennes", "Tragédiennes 2" and "Tragédiennes 3: Les héroïnes romantiques" with Christophe Rousset-EMI, Mozart's c minor mass with Louis Langrée for EMI/Virgin and "Lamenti" with Emmanuelle Haïm, Berlioz Les Nuits d’Eté et Herminie - Ravel Shéhérazade (John Axelrod-Ondine) as well as HERCULE MOURANT by Dauvergne (Christophe Rousset-Aparté).

Véronique Gens is nominated "Chevalier" by "L'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres" and "Chevalier" by "L'Ordre de la Légion d'Honneur".

Booklet for Nuits