From the first notes of Les illuminations, where the violin and viola exchange their wild barrage of fanfares, it's apparent that this is likely to be an exceptional recording, and that expectation is fully realized in the outstanding performances of these four relatively early works by
Benjamin Britten. In the readings by
Jean-Marie Zeitouni, leading the Québec-based
Les Violons du Roy, there is no hint of preciousness; the group's raw athleticism shows off the music's feral intensity, a quality too rarely heard in performances of
Britten, but which obviously captures something essential about these scores. The abandon with which
Zeitouni and the orchestra attack the fugues at the end of Prelude and Fugue for 18-Part String Orchestra and Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge makes the music sound dangerously daring, and the playing in Les illuminations is thrilling in its spontaneity and nuance. Soprano
Karina Gauvin brings a ferocious commitment to Les illuminations, revealing an astonishing power in music that is frequently treated as primarily pretty and decorative. The commanding authority of her opening pronouncement, "J'ai seul la clé de cette parade sauvage" (I alone have the key to this savage parade), demands that the listener sit up and take notice, and her interpretation of each of the songs is both thoughtful and viscerally gripping. She sings with intensely full and focused tone and soars with a velvety sheen over the orchestra. Her superb performance of this cycle is easily one of the finest on disc. Atma's sound is clean and warm, with a distinctively vibrant and detailed sense of presence. Highly recommended.