Fête Galante, a 1999 release featuring soprano
Karina Gauvin and pianist
Marc-André Hamelin, won numerous awards, and the outstanding performances on this 2011 reissue confirm how well-deserved those honors were.
Gauvin has an exceptional voice -- clarion-bright, warm, confident, and agile, with a variegated palette of colors -- and her effortlessly incisive interpretive skills give depth and life to everything she sings. The distinctiveness and character she brings to these songs show a terrific grasp of the genre of the mélodie, from the late 19th century songs by
Fauré and the young
Debussy to the mid-20th works by
Poulenc,
Honegger, and Émile Vuillermoz. The CD demonstrates her range with the zany comedy of
Poulenc's "
Paganini" followed immediately by the intensely poignant multi-layered sadness of the composer's profound "C." Throughout,
Gauvin's tone is ravishingly pure and she soars gloriously in the more lyrical songs.
Marc-André Hamelin is better known as a virtuoso soloist than as an accompanist, and it's a testimony to
Gauvin's artistry to have him involved in the recording; he brings a first-class sensibility to his accompanying role, making the piano parts sparkle with individuality. The CD has the added value of being an intriguing survey of over 50 years of the heyday of French language song. Atma's sound is immaculate: clean, natural, and warmly present. Highly recommended.