Press Archive
2015-03-08, The Guardian
Which non-classical musician would you love to work with?
Lady Gaga. I was very impressed by her last jazz album with Tony Bennett. She is totally in the baroque spirit. I have already worn costumes as crazy as hers in some baroque opera productions!
via The Guardian
Source/read more: [x]
2015-03-02, sinfinimusic.com, Norman Lebrecht
A childlike tone in Fauré’s ‘Prison’ is followed by Debussy’s stone-faced ‘Mandoline’, only to melt in the white ice of Chausson’s moon. Three versions of Claire de lune are exquisitely differentiated. ‘The long sobs of the autumn violins’ convey for once the exact musical nuances of the poet’s intention. From one poem to the next, the pleasure intensifies.
Source/Read more: Sinfini Music
2015-02-27, Warner, Le Figaro
Translated from the original French. Interview by Thierry Clermont in Le Figaro, 19 February, 2015.
So you’ve had this project Green in mind for a long time?
PJ: It’s been in the works for about eight years. I love Verlaine’s poetry and his universe, made up of languor and melancholy as well as lightness and humour. I find myself there. Just think of the themes and the characters of his second collection of poems, Fêtes galantes, with its baroque side and its pastoral atmosphere. Most of his poems are short, arrhythmic – even dissonant . As he says in his Art poétique he prefers the odd lines out. It’s very human poetry, sensual but with childlike simplicity.
Source: Warner
2015-02-12, The Guardian
Erato’s new recording was made in 2013, but derives from a 2011 revival at the Boston Early Music festival. Co-directed by theorbo players Paul O’Dette and Stephen Stubbs, it doesn’t quite have the elan or surety that characterises their more familiar work in the French baroque repertory. Karina Gauvin exudes hauteur as Niobe, opposite Philippe Jaroussky’s elegant, noble Anfione. Listen out for the star turns from Aaron Sheehan, rapturous as Niobe’s would-be lover Clearte, and Jesse Blumberg as the sinister yet meddling sorcerer Poliferno.
Source/Read more: The Guardian
2015-02-11, Warner
“‘Voici des fruits, des fleurs, des feuilles et des branches,
Et puis voici mon cœur qui ne bat que pour vous’
‘Here are fruits, flowers, leaves and branches,
And here is my heart, which beats only for you.’
Philippe Jaroussky sings these intimate lines three times on his forthcoming double album of Verlaine poetry in mélodies and chansons from Fauré to Ferré. Debussy, Fauré and André Caplet all set the poem Green, which gives the album its enigmantic title.
Source/Read more: Warner Classics
2015-01-30, Warner Classics
As Philippe Jaroussky points out in his new video, Paul Verlaine’s poems have been more frequently set to music than any other French writer’s. The countertenor has drawn together a double album’s worth of French mélodies and chansons with words by his favourite poet to create a personal Verlaine ‘songbook’.
Source: Warner Classics
2015-01-28, Bachtrack
…”As Anfione, Philippe Jaroussky was phenomenal. The French countertenor demonstrated his impeccable coloratura in the fiendishly difficult “Trà bellici carmi” but it was the contemplative aria “Dell’alma stanca… Sfere amiche”, all delicately chiselled phrases, exquisitely accompanied by the violas, that showcased his vocal qualities at their best. This was the highlight of the whole evening.”
Source/Read more: Bachtrack
2015-01-23, The Times
Say what you like about this arcane baroque opera, there’s certainly no time to get bored. Recitatives and arias fly by. Theban rulers, lovers and enemies wrestle with power, vainglory, and their heart’s desires. A beast is slain; a monster metamorphoses into an army of warriors. This is an opera first performed during Munich’s winter carnival of 1688, and it wasn’t a time for restraint.
Source/Read more: The Times (paid content)
2015-01-20, ICMA
Source/Read more: International Classical Music Awards site
