AIRS FRANCAIS
Ben Heppner
Myung-When Chung and the London Symphony Orchestra
(Deutsche Grammophon, 289 471 372-2)
The Canadian tenor Ben Heppner has in recent years become a major personality on the international opera scene. He was brought up in the wilds of British Columbia, 1,287km northeast of Vancouver, and when he first saw opera (on TV) couldn't understand why the singers were making such a commotion about feelings that were supposed to be private. He soon changed his mind, however, and today commands large fees for making a similar commotion himself, much to the delight of his many fans.
Here he offers a selection of scenes from 19th century French opera, a genre more known now from just such extracts rather than from complete performances. Berlioz predictably makes the strongest impression, not least in the arrangement he made of La Marseillaise which constitutes the final track.
SCHUMANN: Davidsbundlertanze; Concert sans orchestre
Maurizio Pollini, piano
(Deutsche Grammophon, 471 369-2)
Grunts and little moans by the solo pianists appear to be de rigeur these days. There are plenty from Jeno Jando on his otherwise excellent complete Mozart piano concertos on the bargain Naxos label, for example. Presumably the sound engineers allow them to stay either because it's impossible to edit them out, or because someone has decided that they add authenticity to the performance, in the same way that a painter scribbles his signature in the corner of a canvas. Maurizio Pollini contributes a couple to this disc, a strong account that is every bit the equal to Sviatoslav Richter's famous renderings of this composer.
The pieces are essentially collectors' items -- two early Schumann works, each in its original version rather than the later, revised ones that replaced them. The performances are, needless to say, first rate, though the items themselves are unlikely to appeal to many other than enthusiasts, for the composer or for the celebrated performer.
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