Page 135 - Liverpool Philharmonic 22-23 Season Coverage Book

★★★★☆

Alpha Classics

How strange that Véronique Gens hasn’t recorded La voix humaine before, given how ideally
suited her dramatic expressiveness and variety of tone are to this incredibly demanding role.

Poulenc’s 1958 setting of Cocteau’s play from 1928 displays a deeply empathetic understanding

of text and emotion, as the protagonist, Elle, in a succession of telephone conversations with her

straying lover, veers between euphoria and suicidal despair, denial and confrontation. Elle’s is

the sole voice and must bear the weight of the work alone; this Gens does with utter conviction
and persuasiveness. Hers is one of the great performances, with Bloch and the Lille orchestra

offering crucial support. Their reading of the Sinfonietta (1948) is a lovely bonus.

The Nash Ensemble at the Wigmore Hall

Classical gigs to book

Nash Ensemble

The Nash perform Beethoven’s Septet in E flat, Brahms’s First Piano Quartet and Johann