Hugues Cuenod
Hughes Cuénod was sometimes referred to as "the tenor without a voice," which is quite untrue. He never claimed to have a beautiful voice, but he created his own important niche in our musical lives.
Cuénod began his vocal studies as a baritone, but with his teacher's help worked the voice to a highly cultivated tenor. At first he sang primarily light music and cabaret songs, but in 1928 he sang in the French premiere of Krenek's Jonny spielt auf. His career took a change in direction when he began to sing early music under the direction of Nadia Boulanger. Performances of Cavalieri's Rappresentatione di Anima et di Corpo and Monteverdi madrigals brought him a reputation as an early music specialist, but he was equally at home with the music of his contemporaries. He sang in the premieres of Le Diable boiteux by Francaix and Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress, Cantata, and Threni. Cuénod sang many character roles in operas by Richard Strauss, Giuseppe Verdi, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Claudio Monteverdi, and Leos Janacek among others. He was one of the few tenors to sing the Astrologer in Rimsky-Korsakov's Le coq d'Or with all its high phrases. He made his Metropolitan Opera debut at the age of 85 as the Emperor in Puccini's Turandot (becoming the oldest person ever to debut at the Met!). He relished making a complete character in just a short period of time on-stage. He was a regular visitor to the Glyndebourne Festival between 1954 and 1977 singing in operas by Stravinsky, Mozart, Strauss, Verdi, Mozart, Monteverdi, Ravel, Cavalli, Tchaikovsky, Massenet, and Janácek.
Besides continuing to sing well into his eighties, Cuénod gave master classes and coached singers around the world. He did not teach voice, but rather taught the performer how to find their way of interpreting the song or opera at hand.
The voice of Cuénod was certainly not your typical tenor. It was thin, reedy, and very pure. The lack of sensuous beauty required the listener to concentrate on the text and the meaning of music. He was an excellent musician, which was why he was the favorite of so many composers. He simply tried to lay the music out as the composer intended.
Cuénod made many recordings over the years. The earliest important recordings are of Monteverdi madrigals. In the early LP era, he recorded a series of discs of vocal music of the pre-Baroque era. Later there were recordings of songs by Schubert, Fauré, and Debussy which have been reissued (LYS 342/3). He has also taken part in recordings of L'enfant et les sortileges, Ariadne auf Naxos, Oedipus Rex, Les contes d'Hoffmann, L' Ormindo, Le nozze di Figaro, Benvenuto Cellini, and the St. Matthew Passion. With Hilde Rossel-Majdan, he recorded the complete Schemelli-Liederbuch of Bach. His recordings of Stravinsky's music are required listening for any devotee of that composer.
© TiVo
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Discographie
19 album(s) • Trié par Meilleures ventes
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Fauré & Duparc: Mélodies
Hugues Cuenod, Martin Isepp, Geoffrey Parsons
Musique vocale (profane et sacrée) - Paru chez Nimbus Records le 1 juil. 2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach: Oratorio de Noël, pt. 2 (Mono Version)
Hugues Cuenod, Orchestre Municipal De Strasbourg, Fritz Münch
Divers - Paru chez BNF Collection le 1 janv. 1957
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
De Machaut à Duparc
Mélodies & Lieder - Paru chez INA Mémoire vive le 1 sept. 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
J.S. Bach: St. John Passion, BWV 245 (Remastered 2024) (Live)
Pablo Casals, Prades Festival Orchestra, Hugues Cuenod, Doda Conrad
Classique - Paru chez Archipel le 1 mars 2024
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Erik Satie: Socrate
Hugues Cuenod, Geoffrey Parsons
Musique vocale (profane et sacrée) - Paru chez Nimbus Records le 1 janv. 1985
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Le Maître De La Mélodie
Hugues Cuenod, Geoffrey Parsons
Musique vocale (profane et sacrée) - Paru chez 1992 Wyastone Estate Limited le 1 janv. 1992
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Emile Jaques-Dalcroze: Six Chansons populaires romandes - Jean Binet: Dix "Chansons du mal au coeur"
Hugues Cuenod, Pierre Aegerter
Classique - Paru chez VDE-GALLO le 14 juin 1984
24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
Great Voices Of The Opera Vol. 13
Classique - Paru chez Documents le 1 sept. 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Françaix: Le diable boiteux, La cantate de Méphisto & Pièces avec guitare (Mono Version)
Hugues Cuenod, Doda Conrad, Jean Françaix
Divers - Paru chez BNF Collection le 1 janv. 1957
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Elizabethan Love Songs
Hugues Cuenod, Claude Jean Chiasson
Classique - Paru chez Lyrichord Early Music Series le 1 janv. 1952
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Hugues Cuenod Sings Debussy
Musique vocale (profane et sacrée) - Paru chez Nimbus Records le 1 janv. 1990
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Songs and Dances of John Dowland
Hugues Cuenod, Joël Cohen, Christiane Jaccottet
Classique - Paru chez Hugues Cuénod le 1 févr. 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rameau & Boismortier: Cantates profanes (Mono Version)
Divers - Paru chez BNF Collection le 1 janv. 1957
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Monteverdi: Musique vocale (Mono Version)
Flore Wend, Hugues Cuenod, Nadia Boulanger
Divers - Paru chez BNF Collection le 1 janv. 1954
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky: Les noces & Symphonie de psaumes (Mono Version)
Hugues Cuenod, Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ernest Ansermet
Divers - Paru chez BNF Collection le 1 janv. 1962
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Berg: Wozzeck, Op. 7 (Sung in Italian)
Classique - Paru chez Myto Historical le 26 juin 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Cara E Dolce
Classique - Paru chez Vintage Jukebox le 7 juil. 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Traditional Italian and Spanish Songs
Lounge - Paru chez Don't stop the music le 4 juil. 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
German Songs of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance (Album of 1957)
Classique - Paru chez Casta Diva le 31 juil. 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo