Episode 479. Get to Know Alain Vanzo
I return to the Countermelody Salut à la France miniseries with a tribute to the Monaco-born French-naturalized tenor, Alain Vanzo (1923-2002). There was simply no more elegant a tenor (or any singer!) in the French operatic repertoire (and beyond) than Vanzo in his glory days in the 1960s and 1970s. I have chosen a setlist which presents him, in his core repertoire (Gounod, Massenet, Lalo), sounding truly exquise, but I also show him in music for which he was less-celebrated, but equally compelling, everything from Mozart, Rossini, and Puccini, to Mascagni and even Giordano, with even more delicious surprises along the way. Special thanks to my friend Olivier, for specifically requesting this episode. In preparing it, I became a Vanzo admirer to an all-out raving Vanzo fan girl. In listening to this, you may well find yourself in the same place that I did!
RECORDINGS HEARD IN THIS EPISODE
All tracks feature tenor Alain Vanzo.
Édouard Lalo, Édouard Blau [né Stanislaus Viateur]: Puisqu’on ne peut fléchir… Vainement, ma bien-aimée (Le Roi d’Ys). Jésus Etcheverry, Orchestre Lyrique de l’ORTF [radio broacdcast 14.XI.1968]
Charles Gounod, Jules Barbier, Michel Carré [after Johann Wolfgang von Goethe]: Quel trouble inconnu… Salut, demeure chaste et pure (Faust). Gustave Cloëz, Orchestre Radio-Lyrique [radio recording 15.XII.1958]
Giuseppe Verdi, Francesco Maria Piave [after Victor Hugo; French version by Édouard Duprez]: Vois à tes pieds celui qui te demande [È il sol dell’anima] (Rigoletto). Renée Doria, Orchestra conducted by Jésus Etcheverry [1961]
Charles Gounod, Michel Carré [after Frédéric Mistral]: La brise est douce (Mireille). Andrée Esposito, Jules Gressier, Orchestre Radio-Lyrique et Choeurs de la RTF [radio recording 13.VIII.1959]
Franz Lehár, Ludwig Herzer, Fritz Löhner-Beda [after Victor Léon; French version by André Mauprey, Jean Marietti]: Dans l’ombre blanche des pommiers en fleurs [Von Apfelblüten einen Kranz] (Le pays du sourire [Das Land des Lächelns]). Orchestre Raymond Chevreux [1957]
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Lorenzo da Ponte: Dalla sua pace (Don Giovanni). Georges Prêtre, Orchestre Radio-Lyrique [radio recording 08.X.1962]
Gioachino Rossini, Angelo Anelli: Languir pour une belle [Languir per una bella] (L’Italienne à Alger [L’Italiana in Algeri]). Orchestra conducted by Giancarlo Amati [1962]
Georges Bizet, Léon Battu, Ludovic Halévy: Sulle piume dell’amore [Sérénade en duo] (Don Procopio). Mady Mesplé, Bruno Amaducci, Orchestre Lyric de Radio France [radio recording 06.VII.1975]
Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Giacosa, Luigi Illica [after Henri Murger; French version by Paul Ferrier]: Que cette main est froide [Che gelida manina] (La Bohème). Orchestra conducted by Erasmo Ghiglia [1960]
Ruggero Leoncavallo [after Henri Murger]: Io non ho che una povera stanzetta (La Bohème). Anita Terzian, Nino Bonavolontà, Orchestre Lyrique de Radio-France [radio recording 27.III.1975]
Jules Massenet, Henri Meilhac, Philippe Gille [after Abbé Prévost]: Ah! parlez moi… Nous vivrons à Paris (Manon). Ileana Cotrubaş, Serge Baudo, Orchestre de l’Opéra National de Paris [live Paris 05.VII.1974]
Hector Berlioz, Léon de Wailly, Auguste Barbier: Sur les monts les plus sauvages (Benvenuto Cellini). Pierre-Michel Leconte, Orchestre Lyrique de l’ORTF [radio recording 24.IV.1969]
Pietro Mascagni, Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti, Guido Menasci [after Giovanni Verga; French version by Paul Milliet]: Ah! tu vois, qu’as tu fait… Mais non, Torido, je n’ai que toi sur la terre (Cavalleria rusticana). Suzanne Sarroca, Orchestra conducted by Reynald Giovaninetti [1965]
[Jean-Yves] Daniel-Lesur [after Alfred de Musset]: Lucrèce! Lucrèce! Que ne m’accablais tu de te tes rigueurs (Andrea del Sarto). Manuel Rosenthal, Orchestre National de l’ORTF [1974]
Umberto Giordano, Luigi Illica: Vedi? La luce incerta del crepuscolo… La nostra morte è il trionfo dell’amore (Andrea Chénier). Michèle le Bris, Georges Sébastien, Orchestre Lyrique de l’ORTF [live recording Paris 24.IX.1970]
