Massenet: Songs with Orchestra
Cyrille Dubois, Véronique Gens, Étienne Dupuis, Nicole Car, Jodie Devos, Chantal Santon Jeffery; Orchestre de Chambre de Paris; Hervé Niquet, conductor
Bru Zane BZ 2004 • Released June 24, 2022 • 66:00
Jules Massenet remains, for many listeners, the composer of Manon and Werther, perhaps with a few other stage works dimly in view. This Bru Zane release is a reminder that there was much more to him than that. Songs with Orchestra opens a window onto a repertory that has lived in the shadows for far too long: short orchestral mélodies of charm, refinement, theatrical instinct, and, now and then, real emotional depth. The project is not merely worthwhile; it is genuinely illuminating.
Bru Zane presents twenty-two songs, nearly all of them first recordings, and that alone makes the disc important. But rarity would mean little if the music were not worth hearing. It is. What emerges most strongly is Massenet’s unfailing sense of proportion. These are not inflated mini-scenes from unwritten operas. Most are brief, self-contained pieces, deftly turned and often exquisitely orchestrated. Their appeal lies in concentration rather than scale.
The range of mood is one of the recording’s chief pleasures. Massenet moves easily from devotional feeling to flirtation, from pastoral lightness to something more inward and wistful. At one moment he gives us grace and delicacy; at another, a more perfumed melancholy; elsewhere, a quick theatrical stroke that tells you in seconds exactly what kind of world you are in. Even in these small forms, he knows how to place a phrase, color a line, or let the orchestra complete a thought the singer has only begun.
The six singers form a well-judged team. Véronique Gens brings exactly the poise and verbal finish one would hope for in this repertory, shaping the line with unaffected authority. Cyrille Dubois contributes brightness, elegance, and alert response to text. Nicole Car and Étienne Dupuis add warmth and body, while Chantal Santon Jeffery and Jodie Devos bring brightness and flexibility to the lighter and more capricious pages. Because this is an anthology rather than a recital by a single singer, variety becomes part of the disc’s design. One hears not a single Massenet voice but many facets of his manner.
Hervé Niquet and the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris are central to the success of the enterprise. These pieces need transparency, rhythmic life, and a conductor who knows that charm in French music must never become fussiness. Niquet gets the balance right. The orchestra is light on its feet, attentive to detail, and alive to the quick changes of atmosphere that give these songs their identity. The chamber-sized forces suit the music admirably, allowing the colors to register without heaviness.
What stays in the ear after a while is not simply the novelty of unfamiliar repertoire but the consistency of the invention. Not every song is a masterpiece, and a collection of short pieces by nature offers more miniatures than revelations. Yet the level remains remarkably high. Again and again there is some harmonic turn, some instrumental detail, some melodic inflection that reminds you how polished Massenet’s craftsmanship was, even away from the opera house.
The disc also makes a broader point about the composer. Massenet has often been treated as a man of surface elegance, a master of atmosphere and sensual suggestion, but this collection shows how much expressive variety he could compress into a very small span. These songs may be modest in dimension, but they are anything but casual. They are beautifully made objects, and several are more touching than one initially expects.
Bru Zane has done invaluable work in recovering neglected corners of French Romantic music, and this release stands among its most attractive achievements. For admirers of Massenet, of French song, or of intelligently curated repertory beyond the standard catalog, Songs with Orchestra is easy to recommend. It is a disc of discoveries, and better than that, a disc that makes one wonder why this music was neglected in the first place.
