TOUT FINIT PAR DES CHANSONS, Slides de Histoire de la Musique

Télécharge TOUT FINIT PAR DES CHANSONS et plus Slides au format PDF de Histoire de la Musique sur Docsity uniquement! TOUT FINIT PAR DES CHANSONS This album is dedicated to the great artists of the French poetic chanson. Saint-Germain-des-Prés Leo Ferré There is no better way to start this album than with a song that celebrates the place where French poetic chanson was born. Saint-Germain-des-Prés is one of the four administrative quarters of the 6th arrondissement of Paris. It is located around the church of the former Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés with the Seine as its official border on the North. In the years after World War II it was known for its many bars, jazz clubs and café chantants, mostly set up in cellars to reduce noise for the neighbors. It was also the home of the existentialist movement and the heart of literary life in Paris. It must have been a great environment for Leo Ferré, a French-Monegasque poet and composer who considered himself to be an anarchist with a great love for the old masters. In his chanson ‘Saint-Germain-des-Prés’ he paints a romantic picture of a group of pale figures walking along the Seine, meeting up with each other and joking about not having a dime in their pockets. But Ferré warns us: be careful with your judgement, ladies and gentlemen. It might just be Apollinaire or Racine that just passed you by. Maybe even Valéry or Verlaine. If only you had known…Greet them worthily! J’habite à Saint-Germain-des-Prés et chaque soir j’ai rendez-vous avec Verlaine Ce vieux Pierrot n’a pas changé et pour courir le guilledou près de la Seine Souvent on est flanqué d’Apollinaire, qui s’en vient musarder, chez nos misères; c’est bête, On voulait s’amuser, mais c’est raté on était trop fauchés. Avec Le Temps Leo Ferré Ferré is well known for his very intense performances. He seemed to be ‘living’ his chansons on stage. One of Ferré’s most haunting pieces is his signature song ‘Avec le temps’ in which he states that ‘with time, it goes, it all goes’, underlining the conclusion that love will always cheat you in the end. It was often the last chanson he’d sing in his concerts and after an outburst of emotion, sometimes spitting out the words like fire, he himself would slowly disappear off the stage near the end, leaving his audience in utter silence, and often in tears… Avec le temps, avec le temps va tout s’en va Et l’on se sent blanchi comme un cheval fourbu Et l’on se sent glacé dans un lit de hasard Et l’on se sent tout seul peut-être, mais peinard Et l’on se sent floué par les années perdues Alors vraiment, avec le temps on n’aime plus With time, it will go, it will all go and you’ll feel like a worn out horse and you’ll feel frozen in an unknown bed and you’ll feel alone maybe, but calm and you’ll feel cheated by the years gone by But really with time, you don’t love anymore Mijn vlakke land (Le plat pays) Jacques Brel (Dutch translation by Ernst van Altena) When a young Belgian from Brussels first started playing his songs in Paris, he wasn’t received with much enthusiasm. Juliette Gréco, already a star in the early fifties, requested to sing and record one of his songs: ‘After all, I could help him out. I was already famous!’ It marked the beginning of a tremendously successful international career for Jacques Brel. Gréco and Brel became friends for life. Brel wrote ‘Le plat pays’ about West Flanders, an officially Dutch- speaking region in Belgium from which his family originated; a place he hated and loved, with its cathedrals as its only mountains, where the low mist imposes humility, where the sea can be wild and the wind blows from all corners. It isn’t hard to imagine wind and sea when you hear Jacques Brel sing. Even when calm, his voice seems to be infused with a feverish and unpredictable quality; always ready to erupt into a storm. Brel’s family left West Flanders, but it might never have left him… Brel considered Ernst van Altena’s Dutch translation of ‘Le plat pays’ more beautiful than his own words, therefore Le plat pays is recorded in Dutch on this album under the title: ‘Mijn vlakke land’. Wanneer de regen daalt op straten, pleinen, perken, Op dak en torenspits van hemelhoge kerken, Die in dit vlakke land de enige bergen zijn, Wanneer onder de wolken mensen dwergen zijn, Wanneer de dagen gaan in domme regelmaat En bolle oostenwind het land nog vlakker slaat, Dan wacht mijn land, mijn vlakke land. Although born in Egypt and of Greek-Jewish descent, Georges Moustaki developed an early love for French chanson, mainly because his francophile parents sent him to a French school when he was young. He made his way to Paris in the fifties to devote himself to poetry and song but was forced to earn a living tending bars and writing for local papers. Georges Brassens spotted the young talent and helped him out. Following his advice Moustaki started writing for stars like Yves Montand, Barbara and Piaf. With his chanson ‘Le Métèque’, which he sung himself, he became a star in his own right. ‘Le facteur’ is a true chanson triste about losing the ability to completely surrender to love and expressing these feelings to a beloved other without constraint. This idea is poetically personified in a young mailman, dying at the age of only seventeen and not being able to deliver love letters anymore. Il est parti dans le ciel bleu comme un oiseau enfin libre et heureux Et quand son âme l’a quitté, un rossignol quelque part a chanté Je t’aime autant que je t’aimais, mais je ne peux le dire désormais Il a emporté avec lui, les derniers mots que je t’avais écrit He’s gone, into the blue sky, like a bird finally free and happy. And when his heart stopped, somewhere a nightingale sang. I love you still, but I am not able to say the words anymore. For he has taken with him the last words I wrote to you Le Facteur Georges Moustaki Although Anne Sylvestre never reached the same level of fame as her contemporary Barbara, she can easily be regarded as one of the most successful female writers of French poetic song in a scene dominated by men. She too carried the scars of war, her father being a collaborator with the nazi regime during the occupation of France. While her sister Marie Chaix wrote a book about her father’s role during the war, Anne put her energy in writing chansons. She wrote about many topics; hardship and injustice, but her romantic songs might be the fairest of them all. ‘Si la pluie te mouille’ is a chanson of incredible beauty both in melody and in words. You can tell that it was written with much love, wit and compassion, playfully and tenderly soothing the worries of young love… Si le vent t’évente, mon amour léger Si le vent t’évente, ce n’est pas un danger En feuille volante tu peux te changer En feuille mouvante sans te déranger When the wind wafts you coolness, my featherlight beloved, don’t be afraid of losing yourself… You can transform into a leaf moving along the wind, without being disrupted… Si la pluie te mouille Anne Sylvestre Boris Vian was a jazz musician, author of a pornographic roman and a fierce anti-militarist. He was also very good friends with the muse of the existentialist movement, Juliette Gréco. It didn’t stop him from ridiculing the intellectual and artistic scene of Saint- Germain though. In his hilarious and jazz oriented chanson called ‘J’suis Snob’ he meticulously sums up the do’s and don’ts of being a true snob, and yes, of course it’s a hard job, but someone’s got to do it… J’suis snob, J’suis snob… J’m’appelle Patrick, mais on dit Bob Je fais du cheval tous les matins car j’adore l’odeur du crottin Je ne fréquente que des baronnes aux noms comme des trombones J’suis snob… excessivement snob Et quand j’parle d’amour C’est tout nu dans la cour I’m a snob... I’m a snob My name’s Patrick, but they call me Bob I go horse-riding every morning Because I adore the smell of fresh manure I only keep company with baronesses with surnames that sound like trombones I’m a snob... an excessive snob And when I talk of love It’s stark-naked in the courtyard J’suis Snob Boris Vian Singer, composer and lyricist Guy Béart was born in Egypt under the name Guy Béhar-Hassan. He came from a Jewish family and due to the profession of his father he spent most of his childhood abroad in countries like Libanon, Greece, Mexico and France. He developed a passion for chanson and when he was 17 he left for Paris to study at the École Nationale de Musique. It wasn’t for long before his raspy voice was also heard in Paris’ cabarets. Great vedettes like Patachou and Zizi Jeanmaire noticed his talent and put his work on their repertoire. Even the great Maurice Chevalier was interested in recording one of his songs; ‘Chandernagor’. Eventually he didn’t. He was worried that the lyrics were too intellectual for his audience. It was later performed and recorded by Juliette Gréco. She never had the problem of something being too intellectual… In the late forties France still hadn’t renounced some of its French-Indian colonies (France called them trading posts). In ‘Chandernagor’ these colonized areas become certain intimate body parts of an exotic and sensual woman. She, willingly or not, displays her ‘hills’, her ‘valleys’, her ‘geographical flower’ and her inextinguishable ‘Bengal fire’ to him. Saying goodbye can be a hard thing to do… Elle avait, elle avait un Chandernagor de classe Elle avait, elle avait un Chandernagor râblé Pour lui seul, pour lui seul elle découvrait ses cachemires ses jardins ses beau quartiers, enfin son Chandernagor Pas question, dans ces conditions, d’abandonner les Comptoirs de l’Inde She had, she had a Chandernagor with class She had, she had a Chandernagor nice and firm For him alone, for him alone she uncovered her cashmeres her gardens her beautiful districts, enfin, her Chandernagor No question of abandoning the Indian trading posts under these conditions Chandernagor Guy Béart It’s easier to capture Serge Gainsbourg in a list of what he didn’t do instead of what he did do. He was a singer and songwriter, a pianist, a composer, an actor and a director amongst other things. He was also known for his provocativeness and subversive lyric writing. His erotic duet with Jane Birkin ‘Je t’aime, moi non plus’ is a good example of this. It brought him worldwide fame. With ‘La Javanaise’, Gainsbourg demonstrates his mastery of language by playing with textual rhythm and similar word sounds on one hand and preserving the romantic essence of the chanson on the other. Juliette Gréco first adopted ‘La Javanaise’ after she and Gainsbourg spent an evening together drinking and dancing. Although the love affair in ‘La Javanaise’ only lasts for the duration of a chanson, Gréco’s love affair with it was long and prosperous. She kept ‘La Javanaise’ in her repertoire up until her last concert to date. La Javanaise Serge Gainsbourg J’avoue j’en ai bavé pas vous mon amour Avant d’avoir eu vent de vous mon amour Ne vous déplaise En dansant la Javanaise, nous nous aimions Le temps d’une chanson I admit that I have suffered, haven’t you my love? Before I got wind of you my love Whether you like it or not In dancing the Javanaise We loved each other for the duration of a chanson ‘Tout finit par des chansons’ is the title of this album. It is a saying, stemming from the very last line of Pierre Beaumarchais’ play Le mariage de Figaro, meaning: ‘everything ends with a song’, and this is what we will do. We hope listening to this album gives you as much joy as we have experienced in making it. Moreover we hope to have inspired you to listen more to the great treasures of French poetic chanson! Diana van der Bent & Paul den Bakker Colloque Sentimental A poem by Paul Verlaine set to music by Leo Ferré Dans le vieux parc solitaire et glacé Deux formes ont tout à l’heure passé Leurs yeux sont morts et leurs lèvres sont molles Et l’on entend à peine leurs paroles Dans le vieux parc solitaire et glacé Deux spectres ont évoqué le passé Te souvient-il de notre extase ancienne? Pourquoi voulez-vous donc qu’il m’en souvienne? Ton coeur bat-il toujours à mon seul nom? Toujours vois-tu mon âme en rêve? - Non Ah! les beaux jours de bonheur indicible Où nous joignions nos bouches ! - C’est possible. Qu’il était bleu, le ciel, et grand, l’espoir! L’espoir a fui, vaincu, vers le ciel noir Tels ils marchaient dans les avoines folles Et la nuit seule entendit leurs paroles TRPTK proudly uses Sonodore microphones, KEF loudspeakers, Hegel amplification, Merging Technologies AD/DA conversion, and Furutech cabling and power conditioning at their recording and mastering facilities, carefully optimized by Acoustic Matters. All recordings are done in DXD (352.8 kHz 32 bits) in immersive 5.1-channel surround sound, and all masters are generated from the original DXD Studio Master, without dynamic compression or limiting of the signal. In both stereo and surround sound, our aim is to truly recreate the original venue and atmosphere. It was way back in 2011 when I met Paul and Diana, recording their demo EP in a small basement studio in Hilversum. Already stunned by not just the beautiful voice, but also the sheer magic between them, we decided to stay in touch and think about future recordings. Fast forward to this year, when we were asked to record this very album. The recording dates were set; it was going to be the incredibly hot summer of 2018 that this album were to be recorded. Out of the whole microphone arsenal of our studio, we armed ourselves with nothing but two Brauner tube microphones for the guitars and vocals, to get this smooth, velvety sound of yesteryear, but with the quality of modern equipment. But enough about the gear, it’s all about music! I hope you will enjoy the album as much as I did recording it. For a brief moment in time during the recording, I was transported to Post-War Paris, enjoying a nice espresso, hearing Diana sing these beautiful songs about love, life, and loss. And isn’t that just all any producer wants in life? Brendon Heinst Producer’s notes