Offenbach: Vert-Vert Thora Einarsdottir, Ann Taylor, Lucy Crowe, Toby Spence, Philharmonia Orchestra & David Parry

• Jacques Offenbach (1819 - 1880): Vert-Vert, Act 1:
• 1Offenbach: Vert-Vert, Act 1: Overture08:56
• 2Offenbach: Vert-Vert, Act 1: "Hélas! pour l'eternel voyage" (Mimi, Chorus, Emma, Bathilde, Valentin)03:48
• 3Offenbach: Vert-Vert, Act 1: "Il etait beau, brillant, leste et volage" (Valentin, Chorus)04:23
• 4Offenbach: Vert-Vert, Act 1: "Allons! C'est fini!" (Emma, Bathilde, Mimi, Valentin)01:29
• 5Offenbach: Vert-Vert, Act 1: "De la part de ces demoiselles" (Bathilde, Emma, Mimi, Valentin, Chorus)03:23
• 6Offenbach: Vert-Vert, Act 1: "A toi toutes les confitures" (Chorus, Binet, Valentin)02:35
• 7Offenbach: Vert-Vert, Act 1: "Oh! Les ingrates" (Binet, Le Comte, Friquet)02:19
• 8Offenbach: Vert-Vert, Act 1: "Ah! ma chère femme" (Le Comte, Bathilde, Binet)01:15
• 9Offenbach: Vert-Vert, Act 1: "O la plus belle des amantes" (Le Comte, Binet, Bathilde)04:42
• 10Offenbach: Vert-Vert, Act 1: "V'la quelque'un! Sauvez-vous!" (Binet, Le Comte, Bathilde, Mademoiselle Paturelle, Veronique, Baladon)01:25
• 11Offenbach: Vert-Vert, Act 1: "Tenez, méchant, prenez cela" (Mademoiselle Paturelle, Baladon)03:12
• 12Offenbach: Vert-Vert, Act 1: "Tiens, mademoiselle Paturelle" (Emma, Paturelle, Baladon, Bathilde, Mimi)01:20
• 13Offenbach: Vert-Vert, Act 1: "Vert-Vert n'est plus un enfant" (Mimi)02:56
• 14Offenbach: Vert-Vert, Act 1: "Mon chapeau? Ou est mon chapeau?" (Mimi, Binet)00:42
• 15Offenbach: Vert-Vert, Act 1: "Hélas! l'instant fatal approche" (Chorus, Mademoiselle Paturelle, Binet)03:51
• 16Offenbach: Vert-Vert, Act 1: "Oui, l'oiseau reviendra dans sa cage" (Valentin)02:14
• 17Offenbach: Vert-Vert, Act 1: "Etes-vous prêt?" (Binet, Chorus, Valentin, Mimi)02:37
• Vert-Vert, Act 2:
• 18Offenbach: Vert-Vert, Act 2: Entr'acte00:46
• 19Offenbach: Vert-Vert, Act 2: "Quand débute une cantatrice" (Chorus, Le Comte)01:28
• 20Offenbach: Vert-Vert, Act 2: "En venant, comme moi" (Le Comte, Chorus, Bergerac, La Corilla)05:03
• 21Offenbach: Vert-Vert, Act 2: "J'ai parcouru toute la France" (La Corilla, Chorus)03:06
• 22Offenbach: Vert-Vert, Act 2: "C'est admirable ..." (La Corilla, Le Comte, Bergerac, Le Directeur, Bellecour)02:21
• 23Offenbach: Vert-Vert, Act 2: "Apres m'avoir heurté, pousse" (Bellecour)01:52
• 24Offenbach: Vert-Vert, Act 2: "Mon tenor jeté a l'eau" (Le Directeur, Bellecour, Binet, Valentin, La Corilla)01:14
• 25Offenbach: Vert-Vert, Act 2: "L'heureux enfant qui gardera" (Valentin)01:43
• 26Offenbach: Vert-Vert, Act 2: "Jolie voix" (Le Comte, Binet, Le Directeur, Valentin, La Corilla)01:42
• 27Offenbach: Vert-Vert, Act 2: "Vous ne sauriez me plaire" (La Corilla, Valentin)03:56
• 28Offenbach: Vert-Vert, Act 2: "Ah l'homme charmant!" (La Corilla, Valentin)02:00
• 29Offenbach: Vert-Vert, Act 2: "Oh! Ah!" (Le Comte, Bergerac, Stage Manager, La Corilla, Valentin, Mimi)01:59
• 30Offenbach: Vert-Vert, Act 2: "Il etait deux dragons" (Le Comte, Bergerac, Mimi)04:40
• 31Offenbach: Vert-Vert, Act 2: "Ah! mon maître!" (Binet, Bergerac, Mimi, Le Comte)01:35
• 32Offenbach: Vert-Vert, Act 2: "Chers amis, que voulez-vous?" (Chorus, Le Comte, Bergerac, La Corilla, Valentin, Bellecour, Binet)04:56
• 33Offenbach: Vert-Vert, Act 2: "Quand du flacon" (Valentin, La Corilla, Chorus)03:39
• Vert-Vert, Act 3:
• 34Offenbach: Vert-Vert, Act 3: Entr'Acte00:30
• 35Offenbach: Vert-Vert, Act 3: "Faisons chaque pas" (Chorus, Baladon)01:34
• 36Offenbach: Vert-Vert, Act 3: "Autrefois sous le Valois" (Baladon)05:32
• 37Offenbach: Vert-Vert, Act 3: "Bonsoir, Mesdames et Mesdemoiselles" (Mademoiselle Paturelle, Baladon, Bathilde, Emma, Véronique)00:43
• 38Offenbach: Vert-Vert, Act 3: "Mimi! Mimi! Mimi!" (Chorus, Mademoiselle Paturelle, Mimi, Bathilde, Emma)00:53
• 39Offenbach: Vert-Vert, Act 3: "Là-bas, moi, dans le fond du jardin" (Mimi, Mademoiselle Paturelle, Bathilde, Chorus, Baladon)03:18
• 40Offenbach: Vert-Vert, Act 3: "Ouvrez! ouvrez!" (Valentin, Binet, Mademoiselle Paturelle, Baladon, Bathilde, Mimi, Emma)01:32
• 41Offenbach: Vert-Vert, Act 3: "Ah! ventrebleu" (Valentin, Binet)03:35
• 42Offenbach: Vert-Vert, Act 3: "Rentrez! mesdemoiselles!" (Mademoiselle Paturelle, Mimi, Valentin, Baladon)01:28
• 43Offenbach: Vert-Vert, Act 3: "Faut-il en faire le serment" (Valentin, Mimi)03:43
• 44Offenbach: Vert-Vert, Act 3: "Brr! il y a dans l'air comme des chansons D'amour" (Friquet, Le Comte, Bergerac)00:36
• 45Offenbach: Vert-Vert, Act 3: "Nuit d'ete" (Bathilde, Emma, Le Comte, Bergerac, Valentin, Mimi, Baladon, Mademoiselle Paturelle)07:52
• 46Offenbach: Vert-Vert, Act 3: "Allons, ouvrez ..." (Mademoiselle Paturelle, Binet, Le Comte, Bergerac, Valentin)01:09
• 47Offenbach: Vert-Vert, Act 3: "Allons, madame Baladon!" (Valentin, Mademoiselle Paturelle, Baladon, Bathilde, Emma, Le Comte, Bergerac, Binet, Chorus)02:55
• Total Runtime02:08:27

Info for Offenbach: Vert-Vert

Once again Opera Rara has rescued a work from oblivion with its recording of Offenbach’s Vert-Vert , written not for one of Offenbach’s usual theaters but for the Opéra-Comique. As a consequence, we are deprived of the satire familiar to us from Orphée aux enfers, La belle Hélène, or La Grande-Duchesse de Gerolstein , to cite some of the best-known operettas. Vert-Vert , we are told in Patrick O’Connors’s accompanying essay, is based on a poem written more than a century earlier, but with the licentious elements removed. Vert-Vert is the parrot belonging to the students at a girls’ boarding school. At curtain rise, the girls are burying their pet, and Valentin is to deliver the funeral oration. The girls decide to adopt Valentin as their new pet, giving him the same nickname. Two of the girls are secretly married to two dragoons who climb over the wall, while Mademoiselle Paturelle, the deputy head of the institution, is secretly married to Baladon, the dancing master. Valentin is called away to visit a sick aunt and the gardener Binet is to accompany him. And the curtain falls on act I. We now move to Nevers, where a travelling company is to appear with the prima donna Corilla, but the tenor has a cold and is replaced by Valentin to great acclaim. Now that Corilla has taught Valentin the meaning of love, he is ready to declare himself to Mimi and all live happily ever after. Conductor David Parry in a short note refers to the work as a “spiritually healthy version of Britten’s Albert Herring.”

In 1869, the year of the work’s premiere, Offenbach also offered Les Brigands and La Princesse de Trébizonde , among other works, while the end of 1868 saw the creation of La Périchole . As usual, the composer kept the works coming, Vert-Vert not being an enormous success, although it did better than other works he wrote for the Opéra-Comique. At the time, it was criticized for great length, three hours and 42 minutes according to one review, which makes one wonder if the delivery was ponderous, or was there an inordinate amount of dialogue, as the running time of the CDs is about the same as most other Offenbach on record. The music is both genteel and gentle, recognizably Offenbach with its careful orchestration and rhythmic eccentricities, and the assembled cast, mostly Anglophone, does a commendable job though the dialogue is occasionally labored. Toby Spence in the title role makes the most of the many opportunities he is offered, the voice warm over a wide range. Thora Einarsdottir as the heroine, Mimi, is a strong enough personality to combat Jennifer Larmore’s prima donna, who remains vocally impressive in her brief appearance. Mark Stone and Loïc Félix are the dashing dragoons, while Sébastien Droy (the tenor with a cold) amusingly explains the origins of his indisposition. Franck Leguérinel’s dancing master is considerably less mannered than is his wont, to our great pleasure, as his ode to dance is a delight. The entire cast contributes to our enjoyment, while David Parry has the measure of what is in fact an exceptional work.

"A gently charming operetta-this parrot is certainly not dead" (Gramophone)

Mark Stone, baritone
Anne Taylor, soprano
Toby Spence, tenor
Lucy Crowe, soprano
Mark Le Brocq, tenor
Jennifer Larmore, mezzo soprano
Anne-Marie Owens, mezzo soprano
Loïc Félix, tenor
Franck Leguérinel, baritone
Geoffrey Mitchell Choir
Philharmonia Orchestra
David Parry, conductor

David Parry
is acknowledged as an inspirational champion of operatic, concert and symphonic repertoire across a vast range. He has been responsible for the re-appraisal of countless lesser-known compositions in a series of multi-award-winning productions and recordings, featuring some of the world’s finest singers. Engagements in 2011 included Lucia di Lammermoor for Opera Murcia, Il turco in Italia for Garsington Opera, Il barbiere di Siviglia for Staatstheater Stuttgart, Petrushka, Le Spectre de la Rose and Les Sylphides in new productions at Grand Théâtre de Genève, concert appearances with the Philharmonia Orchestra featuring Sir John Tomlinson and Carmen Giannattasio, and recordings with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, including a new recording for Opera Rara of Donizetti’s Caterina Cornaro, a work with which he enjoyed enormous critical and public success at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam in 2010. His much-anticipated recording for Opera Rara of Il pirata, featuring Carmen Giannattasio, has just been released in May 2012.

Significant credits, including the world premiere of Jonathan Dove’s The Adventures of Pinocchio (in separate productions for Opera North and Staatstheater Stuttgart), Der fliegende Holländer (for Portland Opera), Madama Butterfly (in Anthony Minghella’s production for ENO which earned him an Olivier Award), Così fan tutte and the world premiere of Jonathan Dove’s Flight (both for Glyndebourne Festival Opera) and more recently Maria Stuarda (for The Stockholm Royal Opera), are testimony to a maestro of unique versatility, influence and enthusiasm, and have deservedly earned him his place in the operatic history books.

David Parry studied at Cambridge University and the Royal Academy of Music, London. He went on to study conducting with Sergiu Celibidache and began his career at Glyndebourne Festival Opera, later joining Sir John Pritchard as assistant conductor for Glyndebourne Touring Opera and at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels. His operatic breakthrough came with La Cenerentola for English Music Theatre, which was followed by an invitation to join the Opernhaus Dortmund, before going on to become Resident Conductor at the then newly-formed Opera North. He was Music Director of Opera 80, and in 1992 founding Music Director of Almeida Opera, with whom he gave the world premieres of Nigel Osborne’s Terrible Mouth, Kevin Volans’s The Man who Strides the Wind, Elena Firsova’s The Nightingale and the Rose and Ion by Param Vir. Other significant world premieres have included Stephen Oliver’s Mario and the Magician at the Batignano Festival and Jonathan Dove’s Tobias and the Angel in 2006 and his oratorio There was a Child with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in 2009, while the UK premiere of Bruno Maderna’s Satiricon for Opera Factory was also presented under his baton.

Highlights of his appearances in the UK have included, for ENO: Le Comte Ory, Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte, The Rape of Lucretia, Ernani, La Vestale, The Turk in Italy and The Barber of Seville; for Opera North: Nabucco, Idomeneo, L’elisir d’amore, Der Zwerg, Pagliacci, and La gazza ladra; for Garsington Opera: La Cenerentola, Don Pasquale, La gazza ladra, Il barbiere di Siviglia, L’equivoco stravagante, Armida and La donna del lago.

Among his numerous international successes feature the Spanish premiere of Peter Grimes, The Rake’s Progress and Jenůfa in Madrid, La Fille du régiment, La traviata and Il barbiere di Siviglia at the Oviedo Festival, Carmen and Les Contes d’Hoffmann in San Sebastian, Nixon in China at the National Theatre of Greece, Jonathan Dove’s Flight at the Nationale Reisopera, Die Zauberflöte for Oper Köln and Don Giovanni at Staatstheater Hannover. Further afield, he conducted Tosca and Die Zauberflöte for the Hong Kong International Festival, Kat’a Kabanova and Fidelio for the New Zealand International Festival and Lucia di Lammermoor for New Israeli Opera, with other significant European credits including Maria Stuarda and La finta giardiniera for Theater Basel. He enjoys a close association with Staatstheater Stuttgart, where, in addition to the second production of Dove’s The Adventures of Pinocchio, he has conducted Don Giovanni, Le Comte Ory, Il barbiere di Siviglia, and Turandot.

David Parry boasts an enviable discography of recordings for Opera Rara, one of the most authoritative and comprehensive of its kind, which has been responsible for the re-evaluation of many re-discovered masterpieces of the bel-canto era, with notable examples including Rossini’s Ermione (winner of the 2011 Gramophone Award for Opera), Donizetti’s Rosmonda d’Inghilterra, L’assedio di Calais, Mercadante’s Orazi e Curiazi and Meyebeer’s Il crociato in Egitto.

In addition, David’s series of classic repertoire for Chandos Records continues to top the best-selling charts in both CD and state-of-the-art digital downloadable format, with particular successes including Fidelio, The Flying Dutchman, Don Pasquale, Tosca, Der Rosenkavalier, La Bohème, Il trovatore, Faust and Carmen.

This album contains no booklet.