Caplet: Le Miroir de Jésus Marie-Claude Chappuis

• André Caplet (1878–1925): I. Miroir de Joie
• 1Prélude06:56
• André Caplet (1878–1925): Miroir de Joie
• 2Annonciation02:46
• 3Visitation02:21
• 4Nativité03:09
• 5Présentation03:03
• 6Recouvrement04:12
• II. Miroir de Peine
• 7Prélude05:29
• 8Agonie au jardin04:15
• 9Flagellation02:39
• 10Couronnement d'épines03:31
• 11Portement de croix04:37
• 12Crucifixion03:52
• III. Miroir de Gloire
• 13Prélude03:10
• 14Résurrection03:33
• 15Ascension03:29
• 16Pentecôte02:45
• 17Assomption02:19
• 18Couronnement au Ciel05:00
• Total Runtime01:07:06

Info for Caplet: Le Miroir de Jésus

André Caplet is probably best known today for his work as Debussy's orchestrator. However, he was also a fine composer in his own right, beating out none other than Maurice Ravel when he won the Grand Prix du Rome in 1901. A deeply religious man, Caplet focused his compositional efforts on sacred music. Le Miroir de Jésus is his spiritual masterpiece. The work, a setting of poems by Henri Ghéon, is fashioned after the Rosary, cast in three sections devoted to Jesus's birth, passion and resurrection. Its orchestration is quite unusual, with a mezzo-soprano soloist (Marie-Claude Chappuis), accompanied by a female chorus (Ensemble Vocal Lausanne), harp (Anne Bassand) and string quartet (Quatuor Sine Nomine). With this innovative work, Caplet is revealed as an important transitional composer between Debussy and Messiaen.

„Andre Caplet was born in 1898 and died in 1925 from injuries sustained in World War I. Today he is probably best remembered as the friend and orchestrator of Claude Debussy but in his lifetime he was a prize winning composer (1901 Prix de Rome) and a popular conductor. 'Le Miroir de Jesus' is a setting of poems by Henri Ghéon composed in 1923 and is unusual in its structure of 15 sections in which the Christian meditates on the mysteries experienced by the Virgin Mary through events in the life of her Son, as if in a 'mirror' of herself. Equally unusual is its scoring: mezzo-soprano, female chorus, harp and string quintet. (On this CD we hear Marie-Claude Chappuis, Ensemble Vocal Lausanne, Anne Bassand and Quatuor Sine Nomine.) Musically the playing is exquisite and we applaud the Director Jean-Claude Fasel. The composition is of its time and reminds this reviewer of Messiaen and Britten although some of the string arrangements brought Philip Glass and his 'Music in Twelve Parts' to my mind. The texts are mystical reflections on the life of Jesus as seen and experienced by his mother Mary and the whole could be used as an aid to meditation through the Rosary, for those who do such a thing. For the Protestants among us this is beautiful, spiritual music with profound themes that are well worth our contemplation. Translations are provided in the CD booklet and, if your French is up to it, the website www.andre-caplet.fr is a treasure house.“ (Steven Whitehead, www.crossrhythms.co.uk)

Marie-Claude Chappuis, Mezzo-Sopran
Quatuor Sine Nomine
Ensemble Vocal de Lausanne
Jean-Claude Fasel, conductor

Marie-Claude Chappuis
It is above all a serene and unconditional commitment to music which secures Marie-Claude Chappuis’ position as a unique artist and, for several years now, artistic director of her own Lied festival. Her dedication and achievements in performing the music of composers from Baroque to Mozart has earned her continuing international praise, e.g.: Diapason, Armide (Lully), Nancy, 2015: „her mere appearance on stage, intensely sensitive and dignified, and her careful and refined attention to the text, are enough to evoke the poetry in Lully’s work.“

A frequent performer on Europe’s foremost stages (Berlin State Opera, Salzburg Festival, Grand Théâtre de Genève, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Zurich Opera, Theater an der Wien, Styriarte Festival, Mozart Woche Salzburg, Verbier Festival), Marie-Claude Chappuis sings with conductors such as Giovanni Antonini, Riccardo Chailly, Charles Dutoit, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Ton Koopman, Riccardo Muti, Sir Roger Norrington, Trevor Pinnock, Emmanuelle Haïm and of course René Jacobs, with whom she has appeared in numerous concerts and productions such as Monteverdi’s ORFEO with Berlin State Opera and Aix-en-Provence Festival, L’INCORONAZIONE DI POPPEA in Berlin, Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels, LA CLEMENZA DI TITO in Paris and Lisbon, LA FINTA GIARDINIERA at the Theater an der Wien and Teatro Real in Madrid, as well as Bach’s B MINOR MASS in Zurich, Cologne, Seoul and Leipzig.

In her native Switzerland, she is a regular guest at Zurich Opera and at the Grand Théâtre de Genève, performing a widespread repertoire to the delight of her audiences.

Notable milestones of Marie-Claude Chappuis’ career include IL MATRIMONIO INASPETTATO by Paisiello under Ricardo Muti’s leadership in Salzburg’s Whitsun Festival, in Ravenna and Piacenza, Idamante in Mozart’s IDOMENEO, personally invited by Nikolaus Harnoncourt with the Styriarte in Graz and in Zurich, Cavalli’s LA CALISTO at the Théâtre des Champs-Elyses conducted by Christophe Rousset, Strauss’s ARIADNE AUF NAXOS with Daniel Harding and Schubert’s FIERRABRAS under the baton of Ingo Metzmacher at the Salzburg Festival.

Marie-Claude Chappuis is a refined and much sought-after concert performer, appearing regularly with a repertoire extending from baroque to contemporary music at the Gewandhaus Leipzig, at the Theater an der Wien, at Zurich Tonhalle, Wiener Konzerthaus, the Philharmonic Halls of Paris, Berlin and Luxembourg and at Hamburg’s Laeiszhalle.

It is with the uttermost devotion that Marie-Claude Chappuis veers towards the art of the Lied, indeed to chamber music in general, and particularly to mlodie française which she performs together with authorities in the field such as Malcolm Martineau, András Schiff, Michael Gees, Christophe Rousset, Luca Pianca and Alan Curtis.

Highlights of her 2015/2016 include a new staging of Mozart’s FINTA GIARDINIERA/Ramiro with Opra de Rennes, Lully’s ARMIDE with the Ensemble Talens Lyriques and Christophe Rousset in Paris and Vienna, a tour of Asia with the Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig performing Bach’s ST. MATTHEW PASSION, a Haydn Mass with Sir Roger Norrington, Bach Cantatas with the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, concerts with Il Giardino Armonico and Giovanni Antonini, a performance with Vittorio Ghielmi for Salzburg Festival’s „Ouverture Spirituelle“ series, and Pergolesi’s STABAT MATER with Nuria Rial.

Among Marie Claude Chappuis’ many recordings we find Bach’s ST. MATTHEW PASSION with Riccardo Chailly for Decca, LA CLEMENZA DI TITO under René Jacobs (Harmonia Mundi / Grammy nomination) and Telemann’s BROCKES-PASSION (Prix du Midem 2009). In addition to this are IDOMENEO with Harnoncourt from the Styriarte Festival, LA FINTA GIARDINIERA with Emmanuelle Haïm and the musical film „Conversations à Rechlin“ (Arthaus) directed by François Dupeyron in which she stars as the female lead, all available on DVD. Fall 2012 saw the releases of the critically acclaimed recording of Mozart’s LA FINTA GIARDINIERA with Ren Jacobs (Harmonia Mundi), as well as LE MIROIR DE JÉSUS by André Caplet (Mirare) and Mozart’s REQUIEM (Sony).

Booklet for Caplet: Le Miroir de Jésus