Poems, Prayers and Bliss – Marie-Josée Lord and Hugues Cloutier

Henri Duparc and Ernest Chausson have this in common – they both left their mark on the French musical repertoire through melody, just as their comrades George Gershwin and Leonard Bernstein left their mark on the American songbook through their melodies and the syncretism of their music, combining classical forms and elements of jazz. In a concert bringing together a repertoire she masters, soprano Marie-Josée Lord brings these two contrasting worlds together. Intimate and melancholic in nature, Duparc’s refined melodies complete the cycle Poème de l’amour et de la mer, dedicated by Chausson to Duparc. Irreverent, energetic and sentimental at the same time, Bernstein’s melodies complement those of Gershwin, which echo the resilient and poignant African-American spirituals.

ARTISTS AND PROGRAM

Marie-Josée Lord, soprano

Hugues Cloutier, piano

Henri Duparc : Chanson triste

                         L’invitation au voyage

                         La vie antérieure

Ernest Chausson: Poème de l’amour et de la mer, op. 19

Leonard Bernstein: Five Kids Songs

I Feel Pretty, from West Side Story

George Gershwin: Summertime from Porgy and Bess

Leonard Bernstein: Somewhere from West Side Story

George Gershwin: My Man’s Gone Now, from Porgy and Bess

Spirituals: Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child

Couldn’t Hear Nobody Pray

  He’s Got the Whole World in His Hand

Amazing Grace

Ride On King Jesus

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