SKU: CA.926000
ISBN 9790007249229. Key: F major. Language: French. Text: Barbier, Jules.
The three verses of Aimons-nous, separated by piano interludes, are cheerful and amorous, an invitation to everlasting mutual love. The text portrays this almost as a law of nature: rivers and streams combine, the sun embraces the earth, and the birds snuggle close to each other in their nest. Light, rippling syncopations in the piano accompany Gounod's typical catchy melodic writing in the vocal parts. The writer Jules Barbier was Gounod's favored opera librettist (Faust, Romeo et Juliette), but many other 19th century opera composers also set his texts, including Camille Saint-Saens, Giacomo Meyerbeer, and Jacques Offenbach. This art song was originally composed not for chamber choir, but for solo voice and piano. Denis Rouger has carefully adapted it to suit the requirements and expressive possibilities offered by a larger ensemble, without losing the any of the qualities of the original in the process. Each part in the choir has a melodic line drawn from the harmonic and rhythmic framework. In the process, the variety and refinement of the choral language combines with an enormous flexibility in form and expression, as French melodies or German art song demand from a soloist and pianist. The songs have been recorded by the figure humaine chamber choir on the CD Kennst du das Land ... (Carus 83.495).
SKU: CA.2709605
ISBN 9790007186289. Language: Latin.
Gounod's Messe a la memoire de Jeanne d'Arc was composed in 1887 for a festive mass in Reims to commemorate the arrival of the national heroine in the city on the occasion of the coronation of Charles VII in 1429. Performed a cappella or only accompanied by an organ, vast stretches of the work are in an archaic style in the tradition of Palestrina. The royal procession into the cathedral is conveyed in the splendid Prelude at the beginning, which was performed at the premiere by eight trumpets, three trombones, and organ. In the performance material, the present edition also offers a version of the movement for piano and organ. For the Offertoire, Gounod composed a cantilena for violin and organ (or piano), which is also included in the edition, as a Vision of Jeanne d'Arc. Score available separately - see item CA.2709600.
