Episode 376. Bacquier en Récital [Bastille Day 2025]
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Today in honor of Bastille Day, I present an episode featuring the late Gabriel Bacquier, who considered himself an “acting singer” rather than a “singing actor.” He made his first mark as a sublime Mozart singer, from there moving into Verdi baritone parts, and finally as a supremely skilled basso buffo. What is less well-known is that he was also a superb recitalist, and in today’s bonus episode, I present him in recordings primarily from the early 1960s, but ranging into the late 1970s, which display his surprising skill in mélodie (for it is rare that one singer excels to the extent that Bacquier does in both opera and song). We hear him in live performances and studio recordings of songs of Fauré, Poulenc, Ravel, Duparc, Satie, and Poulenc, as well as examples from such lesser-known lights as Henri Sauguet, Louis Beydts, Maurice Yvain, and Marc Berthomieu. Bacquier’s artistry began with the word as the basis for the shape and form of the music, and this approach proves to be equally valid and successful in song as in opera. Plus that, in the early years of his career, the voice was a thing of extraordinary beauty, whether in full-throated expostulation or the merest hint of a whisper.
RECORDINGS HEARD IN THIS EPISODE
Francis Poulenc, Guillaume Apollinaire: Voyage à Paris (Banalités, FP 107/4) Gabriel Bacquier, Jean Laforge [live Paris 30.XII.61]
Reynaldo Hahn, Victor Hugo: Si mes vers avaient des ailes. Gabriel Bacquier, Jean Laforge [1962]
Jules Massenet, Louis Gallet: Élégie. Gabriel Bacquier, Jean Laforge [1962]
Emmanuel Chabrier, Edmond Rostand: Ballade des gros dindons. Gabriel Bacquier, Jean Laforge [1961]
Charles Gounod, Alphonse de Lamartine: Le vallon. Gabriel Bacquier, Ernest Lush. [BBC 29.V.70]
Erik Satie, D. Durante: Allons-y, Chochotte. Gabriel Bacquier, Aldo Ciccolini [1986]
Erik Satie: Trois Poèmes d’Amour. Gabriel Bacquier, Claudie Martinet [live Paris 1972]
- I. Ne suis que grain de sable
- II. Suis chauve de naissance
- III. Ta parure est secrète
Maurice Ravel, Paul Verlaine: Sur l’herbe, M. 53. Gabriel Bacquier, Jean Laforge [1962]
Maurice Ravel, Jules Renard: Le grillon (Histoires naturelles, M.50/2). Gabriel Bacquier, Dalton Baldwin [1983]
Maurice Ravel, Clément Marot: Deux Épigrammes de Clément Marot, M.21
- I. D’Anne qui me jecta de la neige. Gabriel Bacquier, Jean Laforge [1962]
- II. D’Anne jouant de l’épinette. Gabriel Bacquier, Jean Laforge [live Paris 1961]
Gabriel Fauré, Théophile Gautier: Chanson du pêcheur (Lamento), Op. 4/1. Gabriel Bacquier Jean Laforge [1962]
Gabriel Fauré, Armand Silvestre: Le Secret, Op. 23/3. Gabriel Bacquier Jean Laforge [1962]
Gabriel Fauré, Armand Silvestre: Automne, Op. 18/3. Gabriel Bacquier, Jean Laforge [1962]
Henri Duparc, Jean Lahor [né Henri Cazalis]: Extase. Gabriel Bacquier, Jean Laforge [live Paris 1961]
Henri Duparc, Charles Baudelaire: La vie antérieure. Gabriel Bacquier, Jean Laforge [1962]
Francis Poulenc, Paul Éluard: from Le travail du peintre, FP 161.
- I. Pablo Picasso. Gabriel Bacquier, Ernest Lush. [BBC 29.V.70]
- VI. Joan Miró. Gabriel Bacquier, Claudie Martinet [live Paris 1972]
Francis Poulenc, Maurice Fombeure: Les gars qui vont à la fête (Chansons villageoises, FP 117/2). Gabriel Bacquier, Ernest Lush. [BBC 29.V.70]
Francis Poulenc, Guillaume Apollinaire: Hôtel (Banalités, FP 107/2). Gabriel Bacquier, Jean Laforge [1962]
Francis Poulenc, Robert Desnos: Le Disparu, FP 134. Gabriel Bacquier, Jacques Février [ca. 1966]
Francis Poulenc, Robert Desnos: Dernier poème, FP 163. Gabriel Bacquier, Jacques Février [ca. 1966]
Louis Beydts, Paul Jean Toulet: Dormez, ami (D’ombre et de soleil, No. 3). Gabriel Bacquier, Jean Laforge [1962]
Marc Berthomieu, Daniel Schmitt: Parc Monceau (Jardins de Paris, No. 4). Gabriel Bacquier, Marc Berthomieu, Lily Laskine, Marielle Normann, Jean Leber, Bruno Pasquier, Roger Bourdin, Pierre-Yves Artaud, Maurice Allard, Étienne Lorin, René Benedetti [1979]
Maurice Yvain, Jacques Larue: Porquerolles. Gabriel Bacquier, Jean Laforge [1962]
Henri Sauguet [né Henri-Pierre Poupard]: Berceuse créole (Le plumet du colonel). Gabriel Bacquier, Jean Laforge [1962]