Francis Poulenc's 1959 La Voix Humaine, while classified as opera, is more of a short dramatic monologue (featuring text by Jean Cocteau) with orchestral accompaniment. This 2011 mounting differs from others by replacing the orchestra with a piano—something the composer himself often did while forbidding anyone else from following his example. Graham Johnson, whose connection to the Poulenc estate won him permission to record this much sparser version, is so sensitive as a keyboardist that one almost forgets the absence of strings and woodwinds. The linchpin of any performance of La Voix Humaine, however, is the soprano, and Felicity Lott, who has long experience with the composer's style, offers a passionate delivery of the libretto, in which a woman pleads over the phone with her lover, who's broken off their engagement, and at the end—spoiler alert!—strangles herself with the cord. Lott is older than the singers who usually perform the piece, but it's still well within her range, and her age actually makes the piece even more poignant. Presented in a package containing both DVD and Blu-ray versions in PCM stereo, extras include an illustrated booklet with a foreword by Johnson, an introductory essay, and the full libretto. Although many listeners will still prefer the orchestral rendition, this collaboration by Lott and Johnson is special in its own way. Recommended. (F. Swietek)
La Voix Humaine
(2011) 2 discs. 42 min. In French w/English subtitles. Blu-ray/DVD Combo: $39.99. Champs Hill Records (dist. by Naxos of America). Volume 28, Issue 4
La Voix Humaine
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