Album review: Le Triomphe de l'Amour

Le Triomphe de l'Amour. Photo / Supplied

The triumph of Sandrine Piau's Le Triomphe de l'Amour is not only amatory. This disc is a testament to the radiant French soprano and the stylish Les Paladins ensemble under Jerome Correas, captured in a recording that allows even the slightest sonic blush to register.

Lully, Rameau and Charpentier are the big names but we also meet minor masters like Andre Gretry (1741-1817) whose tuneful operas managed to sustain their popularity before, during and after the French Revolution.

You can see why when Piau sings an aria from L'Amant Jaloux, breaking the chains of love asunder with quicksilver mood swings and coloratura that marries marksmanship and musicianship.

Charles-Simon Favart (1710-1792) would have been overjoyed to hear a lament from his La Bohemienne, its poignant song woven around a gypsy lute obbligato.

Piau catches the anguish of a hero caught between a stern father and unfathomable friend in an aria from Charpentier's David et Jonathas - but maybe the friendship would be less unfathomable, were Jonathan sung by a tenor rather than soprano.

The pleasures of this disc are endless; Piau, in a tasty trifle from Rameau's Les Paladins, sounding as if she is fluttering around a bird sanctuary, is certainly one.

Another, from the same composer's Anacreon, thrills as the soprano rides over driving, metronomic rhythms that look forward to Berlioz's Villanelle and Abba's Mamma Mia.

Piau also contributes four arias on a new double CD, Ladies sing Baroque, the title of which suggests that this is not intended for the scholarly market. Nevertheless, Nave's charming sampler would be so much more enjoyable with printed lyrics and proper acknowledgement of the original recordings.

Despite this, its 23 tracks constitute a paean to the expressivity of the human voice.

Two of the most memorable are soprano Angela Kazimiercszuk singing Bach's Erbarme Dich in the romanticised Mendelssohn arrangement and Patricia Petibon waxing kittenish over Purcell's Bid the virtues, with smoky, sax-like solos from Ensemble Amarillis' anonymous oboe.