Commissioned by Marc Collet and Ensemble21, Onze Folksongs d'ici et d'ailleurs by Jean-Marie Rens is a complete rearrangement of his Sept chansons traditionnelles flamandes, françaises et wallonnes composed over twenty years ago. This new version calls for a larger instrumental ensemble, since it was rewritten for the lineup of Luciano Berio's famous Folk Songs, to which it offers an original and unprecedented mirror. The challenge here was to preserve the specific character of these Sept chansons while carrying out a massive task of orchestration-arrangement as well as composition.
Luciano Berio is arguably the most prominent figure in contemporary Italian music. He composed the cycle of Folk Songs in 1964 for his wife, the American soprano Cathy Berberian. A remarkable fusion of popular and classical music, they represent a kind of anthology made up of eleven folk songs of various origins that the composer had found on old records, in printed collections or heard directly from friends.
Albane Carrère and the Ensemble21 conducted by Marc Collet approach these two collections with infinite tenderness and a subtle art of evocation. Albane Carrère's mezzo voice weaves the link and travels imperceptibly between these two worlds.
Works:
• Rens: Het was een Maged uitverkoren (chanson flamande)
• Rens: Gekwetst ben ik van binnen (chanson flamande)
• Rens: Cinqu' cints francs d'espargne (chanson wallonne)
• Rens: Drive the Cold Winter Away (chanson anglaise)
• Rens: La p'tit' bergèr' s'en va aux champs (chanson française)
• Rens: Cloques sonez (chanson wallonne)
• Rens: I Macheroni (chanson italienne)
• Rens: Durme (chanson séfarade)
• Rens: Rossignolet du bois (chanson française)
• Rens: La bergère et le Monsieur (chanson wallonne)
• Rens: Het daget in den Oosten (chanson flamande)
• Berio: Black Is the Colour (États-Unis)
• Berio: I Wonder as I Wander (États-Unis)
• Berio: Loosin yelav (Arménie)
• Berio: Rossignolet du bois (France)
• Berio: A la femminisca (Sicile)
• Berio: La donna ideale (Italie)
• Berio: Ballo (Italie)
• Berio: Motettu de tristura (Sardaigne)
• Berio: Malurus qu'o uno fenno (Auvergne)
• Berio: Lo Fiolairé (Auvergne)
• Berio: Azerbaijan Love Song (Azerbaïdjan)