Sabine Devieilhe – Bach & Handel (2021) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Great sorrow and great joy, expressed in in sacred and secular arias and cantatas, are the themes of Sabine Devieilhe’s album of Bach and Handel. Recorded with the Pygmalion ensemble and conductor Raphaël Pichon, it features appearances by baritone Stéphane Degout and lutenist Thomas Dunford and includes Bach’s cantatas ‘Mein Herze schwimmt im Blut‘ and ‘Jauchzet Gott in allen Lande’, and excerpts from Handel’s Brockes Passion and Giulio Cesare. “This is possibly the most personal programme I’ve recorded so far,” says Sabine Devieilhe, “and I’ve been lucky enough to record it with the Pygmalion ensemble and my husband Raphaël Pichon. We really wanted to convey the idea of human emotion that at times goes beyond our understanding, and which creates music of extraordinary drama. ”

“It almost felt like we were sneaking in, the Pygmalion ensemble and I, that week in December 2020 as we walked through the great door of the church where we were recording. Travel permits and test results were no match for the magic of this music. Bach and Handel sound so soothingly familiar. With this programme, we wanted to express sorrow, repentance, joy and desire through the secular and sacred scores of these two composers. From Cleopatra to the character of the Sinner in the cantata BWV 199, the tears flow, and the soul seeks rest”.

They are numerous, these works set against a background of pandemics, to have marked thus the albums recorded these last months. Sabine Devieilhe’s words from the cover sum up the spirit of catharsis in which the soprano and the Ensemble Pygmalion have recorded this programme. Here we will find Bach’s religious cantatas Mein Herze schwimmt in Blut, BWV 199 (literally ‘My heart is bathed in blood’) and Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen, BWV 51 (‘Exalt in God in all lands’), as well as excerpts from Handel’s oratorios Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno, HWV 46a and Brockes Passion, HWV 48 and from his opera Giulio Cesare in Egitto, HWV 17.

Raphaël Pichon conducts a Pygmalion alert to the sharp entries, drawn out by Sabine Devieilhe’s heartbreaking, sublime voice. The emphasis is on the theatrical impact of the texts; this is particularly compelling in the cantata Mein Herz schwimmt in Blut. Devieilhe was not wrong when she said that “the tears flow and the soul seeks rest”. One can sense the precision of the work undertaken for the timbre of each instrument, in particular for the organ which explores unexpected but pleasant tones in its sharp upper register.

The performance of baritone Stéphane Degout—who joins the ensemble for the duet “Soll mein Kind, mein Leben sterben / Ja, ich sterbe dir zu gut” taken from the Brockes-Passion—is, however, less convincing, but perhaps this is due to Devieilhe’s sunlit presence that is difficult to rival. – Pierre Lamy

Tracklist:
1. Sabine Devieilhe – Schemellis Musicalisches Gesang-Buch: Mein Jesu! was vor Seelenweh, BWV 487 (03:11)
2. Sabine Devieilhe – Wir müssen durch viel Trübsal, BWV 146: No. 1, Sinfonia (07:09)
3. Sabine Devieilhe – Mein Herze schwimmt im Blut, BWV 199: No. 1, Rezitativ. “Mein Herze schwimmt im Blut” (02:12)
4. Sabine Devieilhe – Mein Herze schwimmt im Blut, BWV 199: No. 2, Aria. “Stumme Seufzer, stille Klagen” (08:10)
5. Sabine Devieilhe – Mein Herze schwimmt im Blut, BWV 199: No. 3, Rezitativ. “Doch Gott muss mir genädig sein” (01:12)
6. Sabine Devieilhe – Mein Herze schwimmt im Blut, BWV 199: No. 4, Aria. “Tief gebückt und voller Reue” (07:58)
7. Sabine Devieilhe – Mein Herze schwimmt im Blut, BWV 199: No. 5, Rezitativ. “Auf diese Schmerzensreu” (00:20)
8. Sabine Devieilhe – Mein Herze schwimmt im Blut, BWV 199: No. 6, Choral. “Ich, dein betrübtes Kind” (02:00)
9. Sabine Devieilhe – Mein Herze schwimmt im Blut, BWV 199: No. 7, Rezitativ. “Ich lege mich in diese Wunden” (00:56)
10. Sabine Devieilhe – Mein Herze schwimmt im Blut, BWV 199: No. 8, Aria. “Wie freudig ist mein Herz” (02:25)
11. Sabine Devieilhe – Brockes-Passion, HWV 48: No. 40a, Recitativ. “Ach Gott! mein Sohn wird fortgeschleppt” (Maria) (01:21)
12. Sabine Devieilhe – Brockes-Passion, HWV 48: No. 40b, Duet. “Soll mein Kind, mein Leben sterben” – “Ja, Ich sterbe dir zu gut” (Maria, Jesus) (02:32)
13. Sabine Devieilhe – Giulio Cesare in Egitto, HWV 17, Act II: “Che sento? O dio!” (Cleopatra) (01:01)
14. Sabine Devieilhe – Giulio Cesare in Egitto, HWV 17, Act II: “Se pietà di me non senti” (Cleopatra) (08:09)
15. Sabine Devieilhe – Brockes-Passion, HWV 48: No. 42b, Aria. “Hier erstarrt mein Herz und Blut” (Gläubige Seele) (01:54)
16. Sabine Devieilhe – Brockes-Passion, HWV 48: No. 42c, Recitativ. “O Anblick, o entsetzliches Gesicht” (Gläubige Seele) (01:19)
17. Sabine Devieilhe – Giulio Cesare in Egitto, HWV 17, Act III: “Piangerò la sorte mia” (Cleopatra) (06:03)
18. Sabine Devieilhe – Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno, HWV 46a: “Pure del cielo intelligenze eterne” (Bellezza) (01:19)
19. Sabine Devieilhe – Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno, HWV 46a: “Tu del ciel ministro eletto” (Bellezza) (06:36)
20. Sabine Devieilhe – Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen, BWV 51: No. 1, Aria. “Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen” (04:29)
21. Sabine Devieilhe – Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen, BWV 51: No. 2, Rezitativ. “Wir beten zu dem Tempel an” (02:12)
22. Sabine Devieilhe – Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen, BWV 51: No. 3, Aria. “Höchster, mach deine Güte” (04:49)
23. Sabine Devieilhe – Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen, BWV 51: No. 4, Choral. “Sei Lob und Preis mit Ehren” (03:46)
24. Sabine Devieilhe – Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen, BWV 51: No. 5, Aria. “Alleluja!” (02:23)