Effusions (Remastered)

Album review

The eccentric costume of Diane Dufresne may be symbolic of the slight incongruities of this album. Dufresne sings Weill's songs with the attitude of an actress, very effectively giving them all the character the lyrics demand. Her independent personality and her vocal talents suit these songs wonderfully. It's the lush, full-orchestra arrangements of the songs and the touch of large-hall resonance in the recording that sounds out of place. Rather than the small combo accompaniment, and without an accordion or banjo, the sound of the songs takes on a sheen of old-fashioned Hollywood glamour, as if they were cleaned up for presentation to the Production Code board. Dufresne's last two songs, Nannas Lied and Je ne t'aime pas, are accompanied simply by an uncredited pianist, with warmth. This lets the listener come closer to the music and the personality Dufresne puts into it. Another odd thing about the disc is the programming of this variety of Weill songs with his Symphony No. 2. The scale of the songs isn't up to that of the symphony, even with the orchestral arrangements. Weill's Seven Deadly Sins would have made a better match with the symphony and would have given Dufresne just as much drama to work with. The sound of the recording also evens out the timbres of the orchestra, in both the songs and the symphony, but in the symphony it makes more of a difference. The smoothness adds weight to the stature of the piece whenever there is a moving line of music against a static line, which is frequently in the Largo movement, giving the static line precedence. It also leaves the liveliness and vibrancy that conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the orchestra members are putting into the finale a little blunted. There are redeeming points to the performances on this album, but taken as a whole -- performances, program, and recording -- it isn't an entirely convincing conception.

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