{"id":49741,"date":"2017-12-07T11:55:35","date_gmt":"2017-12-07T16:55:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=49741"},"modified":"2017-12-11T18:58:02","modified_gmt":"2017-12-11T23:58:02","slug":"record-keeping-nezet-seguins-duets-is-beautiful-and-great-and-well-were-not-surprised","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2017\/12\/07\/record-keeping-nezet-seguins-duets-is-beautiful-and-great-and-well-were-not-surprised\/","title":{"rendered":"RECORD KEEPING | N\u00e9zet-S\u00e9guin’s “Duets” Is Beautiful And Great, But… We’re Not Surprised"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"DUETS.
DUETS. Music by Bizet, Gounod, Boito, Donizetti, Verdi, etc. Rolando Villaz\u00f3n, tenor. Idar Abdrazakov, bass. Orchestre M\u00e9tropolitain de Montr\u00e9al\/Yannick N\u00e9zet-S\u00e9guin. DG. Total Time: 61:22.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Rolando Villaz\u00f3n first met Yannick N\u00e9zet-S\u00e9guin when they were working on a new production of Gounod\u2019s Romeo et Juliette<\/em> at the Salzburg festival in 2008. From there they developed an ongoing project to record all the major Mozart operas for Deutsche Grammophon, with casts built around Villaz\u00f3n in the tenor roles. With four operas already released and several more to come, this project has turned out to be a major success.<\/p>\n

Villaz\u00f3n and Ildar Abdrazakov first crossed paths in 2009 when they worked together at the Met in Lucia di Lammermoor.<\/em> Here they are together on a new album of duets. Of course, for Canadian music-lovers, this CD provides another cause for celebration, as it is the first recording by the Orchestre M\u00e9tropolitain on a major international label, and as such, an indication of N\u00e9zet-S\u00e9guin\u2019s extraordinary loyalty to the orchestra that gave him his first opportunity to conduct. While N\u00e9zet-S\u00e9guin has ascended to the music directorship of the Philadelphia Orchestra and will soon begin his tenure in the same role at the Metropolitan Opera, he continues to devote a good deal of time to Montreal. He may, in fact, be increasing his work with the Orchestre M\u00e9tropolitain. Just last week he led the orchestra on its first-ever European tour.<\/p>\n

This CD begins with the most famous of all tenor\/baritone duets, the duet from Bizet\u2019s opera The Pearl Fishers.<\/em> Villaz\u00f3n contributes a thoughtful rendering of the opening bars, and later the kind of emotional intensity that has made him a star, not to mention some thrilling high notes that are fearlessly approached and dead on in tune. Abdrazakov is a solid partner and N\u00e9zet-S\u00e9guin, and his orchestra provides a totally committed accompaniment.<\/p>\n

The go-to reference for this piece has always been the 1951 recording by Jussi Bj\u00f6rling and Robert Merrill; it remains a glorious version, especially for Bj\u00f6rling\u2019s incomparable sound and phrasing, captured in his prime, in spite of the fact that it leaves out the middle section of the duet. But this new rendition by Villaz\u00f3n and Abdrazakov is very much a contender.<\/p>\n

Although Villaz\u00f3n has had more than his share of vocal problems in the last few years, on this album he is in fine form, very much in his element in duets from Donizetti\u2019s Don Pasquale<\/em> and L\u2019elisir d\u2019amore <\/em>and impressive too in a duet from Act I of Gounod\u2019s Faust<\/em>. Perhaps the most beautiful blending of voices is in the duet from Act I of Verdi\u2019s Simon Boccanegra.<\/p>\n

The most dramatic item on the CD is the Pact Scene from Act I of Boito\u2019s Mefistofele<\/em>. Abdrazakov makes a chillingly menacing Mephistopheles and Villaz\u00f3n a sonorous Faust. Together, with N\u00e9zet-S\u00e9guin making the most of Boito\u2019s inventive orchestration, the music comes alive as I have rarely heard it.<\/p>\n

The CD concludes with duet arrangements of popular folk songs from each of the singer\u2019s native countries. First comes \u201cGranada\u201d from Villaz\u00f3n\u2019s Mexico in a colourful version by Julian Reynolds, and then from the same arranger a lovely rendering of the Russian favourite \u201cOchi Chernye\u201d (Dark Eyes).<\/p>\n

Wonderful singing from beginning to end on this new CD, with conductor and orchestra very much equal partners. Above all, this is music-making that is never routine and never dull. I listened to this CD from beginning to end and then couldn\u2019t wait to start over and listen to it all again. This recording is a triumph for all concerned.<\/p>\n

Orchestre M\u00e9tropolitain and N\u00e9zet-S\u00e9guin have almost completed a cycle of all the Bruckner symphonies for ATMA. On the strength of this CD, might I suggest that the orchestra has earned the right to moonlight now and again for DG.<\/p>\n

DUETS is available at amazon.ca<\/a><\/span> and iTunes<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

#LUDWIGVAN<\/i>
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<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yannick N\u00e9zet-S\u00e9guin and the Orchestre M\u00e9tropolitain are getting into legend territory with new Album of Duets with Rolando Villaz\u00f3n and Ildar Abdrazakov.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":49743,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[6439,77,5739,51,52],"tags":[1015,14636,14633,2869,3627],"yst_prominent_words":[14628,11281,14622,12293,14629,14623,12241,13725,14631,6616,14627,6613,14630,14621,14637,7489,14625,10395,8590,14626],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2017\/12\/71rCqOJ29AL._SL1200_.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-cWh","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49741"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49741"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49741\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49853,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49741\/revisions\/49853"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49741"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=49741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}