Chimère Sandrine Piau & Susan Manoff

• Carl Loewe (1796-1869):
• 1 Lieder und Balladen: Ach neige, du Schmerzenreiche 04:12
• Robert Schumann (1810-1856):
• 2 Lieder und Gesänge aus "Wilhelm Meister", Op. 98a: Mignon "Kennst du das Land?" 04:14
• 3 Lieder und Gesänge, Op. 127: Dein Angesicht 02:13
• 4 Myrthen, Op. 25: Die Lotosblume 01:45
• Claude Debussy (1862-1918):
• 5 Fêtes Galantes I, CD 86: I. En sourdine 02:47
• 6 Fêtes Galantes I, CD 86: II. Fantoches 01:25
• 7 Fêtes Galantes I, CD 86: III. Clair de lune 02:44
• Hugo Wolf (1860-1903):
• 8 Verschwiegene Liebe 02:29
• 9 Nixe Binsefuss 02:20
• 10 Das verlassene Mägdlein 02:54
• 11 Lied vom Winde 02:45
• Ivor Gurney (1890-1937):
• 12 5 Elizabethan Songs: IV. Sleep 03:08
• Robert Baksa (1938- ):
• 13 Heart! We Will Forget Him 03:09
• Francis Poulenc (1899-1963):
• 14 Banalités, FP 107: I. Chanson d’Orkenise 01:27
• 15 Banalités, FP 107: II. Hôtel 01:38
• 16 Banalités, FP 107: III. Fagnes de Wallonie 01:27
• 17 Banalités, FP 107: IV. Voyage à Paris 00:58
• 18 Banalités, FP 107: V. Sanglots 04:18
• Samuel Barber (1910-1981):
• 19 Despite and Still, Op. 41: IV. Solitary Hotel 02:37
• Francis Poulenc:
• 20 Métamorphoses, FP 121: C’est ainsi que tu es 02:29
• André Previn (1929- ):
• 21 Three Dickinson Songs: As Imperceptibly as Grief 03:13
• 22 Three Dickinson Songs: Will There Really Be a Morning? 01:31
• 23 Three Dickinson Songs: Good Morning Midnight 02:46
• Total Runtime 58:29

Info for Chimère

After a number of appearances in Alpha productions, Sandrine Piau now joins the label for several recordings. With Chimère, she invites us on a voyage into the intimate and infinite territory of dreams. ‘Chimera: an illusory, unsatisfied quest, the graveyard of our illusions...’ She and her longstanding partner, the pianist Susan Manoff, have thought up a programme combining the German lied, Mélodies by Debussy and Poulenc (his Banalités), and Art Songs by Barber along with discoveries of more rarely heard composers like Ivor Gurney and the Dickinson Songs of André Previn – the celebrated American conductor is less well known for his compositions, which include this magnificent cycle written for Renée Fleming. Equally at home in French, German and English, Sandrine Piau is at the peak of her artistry.

"Sandrine Piau’s programme, built with terrific imagination to reflect on different states of mind and responses to life, love and nature, opens with Gretchen’s heart-rending soliloquy from Goethe’s great drama Faust before journeying through a sequence of deeply moving songs."

Sandrine Piau, soprano
Susan Manoff, piano

Sandrine Piau
A renowned figure in the world of Baroque music, French soprano Sandrine Piau regularly performs with celebrated conductors such as William Christie, Philippe Herreweghe, Christophe Rousset, Gustav Lleonhardt, Ivor Bolton, Ton Koopman, René Jacobs, Marc Minkowski and Nikolaus Harnoncourt.

Ms. Piau embraces both lyric and Baroque repertoires. The roles she has recently performed include Alcina at la Monnaie and in Amsterdam, Dalinda (Ariodante) and Tytania (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) at the Festival d’Aix en Provence, Cleopatra (Giulio Cesare) at the Opéra de Paris, Mélisande in Nice and at la Monnaie, Ännchen (Der Freischütz), Constance (Le Dialogue des Carmélites), Pamina (Die Zauberflôte) and Donna Anna (Don Giovanni) at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées; the title role of L’Incoronazione di Poppea in Cologne; Sandrina in a new production of La Finta Giardiniera at La Monnaie, Ismène (Mitridate, Re di Ponto) at the Grand Théâtre de Genève and Sophie in Massenet’s Werther at both the Capitole de Toulouse and the Théâtre du Châtelet.

Sandrine Piau regularly appears in concert. In recent years she has performed at the Salzburg Festival, Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, Covent Garden Festival, Musikverein, Paris’ Salle Pleyel, Festival de Saint Denis, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Teatro Communale in both Florence and Bologna and with the world’s most prestigious orchestras including Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris and Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Ms. Piau takes great pleasure in the art of recital. As a singer of both French and German repertoire, she has performed with many renowned accompanists including Jos van Immerseel, Roger Vignoles and Corine Durous. She has a privileged relationship with pianist Susan Manoff with whom she recently made recital tours in the USA, in Europe, and in Japan.

Recent season highlights included Ariodante in Amsterdam and her return to the Festival d’Aix en Provence for a new production of Cosi fan tutte, directed by Christophe Honoré. This production went on to appear at the Mostly Mozart Festival in New York and at the Edinburgh Festival. Ms. Piau records exclusively for Alpha Classics. Her 16/17 season was marked by concerts in Paris, Brussels, Munich, Hamburg (for the opening of the Elbphilharmonie), a recital tour in the United States and her return at the Salzburg Whitsun Festival in Ariodante.

Future engagements include, among others, concerts with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Basel Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, as well as her return to La Monnaie for Dialogues des Carmélites.

Her latest disc “Mozart, Desperate Heroines” recorded with Ivor Bolton and the Mozarteum Orchestra was critically acclaimed. Sandrine Piau was given the title of Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres in 2006 and was named “Lyrical Artist of the Year” at the Victoires de la Musique Classique award ceremony in 2009.

Susan Manoff
was born in New York of Latvian and German descent. She studied at the Manhattan School of Music and at the University of Oregon. Intensive studies with Gwendoline Koldofsky in the art song repertoire led her to become one of the most sought-after pianists of her generation.

In addition to her interest in the vocal repertoire, Susan Manoff is a passionate advocate of chamber music. She performs regularly at international festivals and is invited by major concert halls around the world such as Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Théâtre du Châtelet, Salle Gaveau, Wigmore Hall, Concertgebouw, Carnegie Hall, Vienna Konzerthaus and Musikverein. Susan Manoff is a regular guest of France Musique. Musical curiosity and love for theatre have inspired Susan Manoff’s involvement in the creation of numerous programmes blending music and text.

Her partners have been Jean Rochefort, Fabrice Luchini and Marie-Christine Barrault and she has been directed by Hans Jürgen Syberberg and Joël Jouanneau.

Susan Manoff has recorded for the labels Naïve, Decca, Virgin, Arion, Valois and Aparte. In 2007 she recorded her first CD with Sandrine Piau, entitled 'Evocation’, and a second recording, 'Après un Rêve', was released in March 2011 (Naïve.) Susan Manoff’s recent recording with long term musical partner Nemanja Radulovic is dedicated to the violin and piano sonatas of Ludwig van Beethoven (Decca, 2010. Her latest album, "La Belle Excentrique" with soprano Patricia Petibon, will be released in autumn of 2014 (Deutsche Grammophon).

Susan Manoff was assistant chorus director at the Bastille Opera and is presently a professor at the Conservatoire National de Musique et de Danse de Paris. In 2011, she was named Chevalier des Arts et Des Lettres by the Cultural Ministry of France.

This album contains no booklet.