This is a nicely programmed album consisting of French song cycles spaced several decades apart from the 19th and early 20th centuries. One of them, the
Melodies Persanes
("
Persian Songs
") of
Saint-Saens
, is not a common item; with its bouncy text-setting, nobody would compare it to the deep Eastern influences woven into various
Ravel
works, but then,
was inspired to execute those by listening to
. In
Berlioz
's
Les nuits d'ete
and
Sheherazade
, contralto
Marie-Nicole Lemieux
has plenty of competition, but there is less for the
. Another attraction is the work of the
Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo
under conductor
Kazumi Yamada
, neither a household name. The group is velvety smooth in the
cycle, with quiet and perfectly controlled string sound throughout. The strings match the voice of
Lemieux
beautifully; both have a luxuriance that fits the extravagantly Romantic texts of the
. So, everything is in place here, and listeners' reactions to the whole are likely to come down to their feelings about
's voice itself. It has a rapid, confident vibrato that is remarkably pitch-accurate as it moves up and down within her range. To these ears, it is beautiful. It also doesn't vary much according to the text; the
songs and
Asie
, which are intended to evoke exotic melodic traits, sound much like the
. A bit of sampling will likely determine one's enjoyment of the album in general, and there are certainly many things to like here. ~ James Manheim