Roger Marsh: Albert Giraud's Pierrot Lunaire

NMC Recordings NMC D127

Playing time: 107'04

Recorded at the National Centre for Early Music, York, and at the Music Research Centre (mrc), University of York, between December 2005 and August 2006, except Valse de Chopin, recorded in 2002 by Paul Jones

www.nmcrec.co.uk

The Hilliard Ensemble / Red Byrd / Juice / Ebor Singers / Linda Hirst / Joe Marsh


	CD 1
1.	Théâtre: Giraud introduces his imagined theatre Hilliard Ensemble	[1:52]
2.	Décor: Breughel’s purple and gold birds Ebor	[1:22]
3.	Pierrot Dandy: making up his face with moon make-up Red Byrd • Juice	[1:29]
4.	Déconvenue: some disappointed dinner guests Ebor	[1:27]
5.	Lune au Lavoir: the moon is a pale washergirl Anna Maria Friman, soprano • John Potter, tenor	[2:43]
6.	La Serenade de Pierrot: he plays on Cassander like a bass viol Richard Wistreich, bass • Juice	[1:18]
7.	Cuisine Lyrique: Pierrot cooks a moon omelette Ebor	[1:47]
8.	Arlequinade: Harlequin’s fashion show Juice • Omar Sharhyar, beatbox	[1:53]
9.	Pierrot Polaire: Pierrot waving at himself in the icy moonlight Hilliard Ensemble	[2:53]
10.	A Colombine: Pierrot longs for her Red Byrd	[1:60]
11.	Arlequin: Harlequin has designs on her too — and will pay Red Byrd	[1:23]
12.	Les Nuages: clouds like fish Ebor	[2:09]
13.	A mon cousin de Bergame: Giraud is like Pierrot Hilliard Ensemble	[2:09]
14.	Pierrot voleur: stealing red rubies Red Byrd	[1:27]
15.	Spleen: Pierrot is bored, and it’s raining Juice	[3:20]
16.	Ivresse de Lune: and he’s drunk on moon wine Red Byrd	[2:05]
17.	La Chanson de la Potence: the gallows will be his last lover... Red Byrd	[1:36]
18.	Suicide: hung over — end it all Linda Hirst	[2:36]
19.	Papillons noirs: black butterflies of despair Ebor	[2:50]
20.	Coucher de soleil: sunset and slit wrists Juice	[0:56]
21.	Lune malade: paying last respects to the dying moon Ebor	[8:33]
22.	Absinthe: drowning in a sea of it Ebor	[2:14]

	CD 2
1.	Mendiante de Têtes: an old lady executioner Ebor	[1:34]
2.	Décollation: the moon decapitates Pierrot Juice • Naomi Morse, violin • Tim Smedley, cello	[3:12]
3.	Rouge et Blanc: and his bloody tongue sticks out Ebor • Juice	[1:43]
4.	Valse de Chopin: a consumptive Waltz Matthew Collins, Junko Matsuda, Simon Green, Alex Shepherd, piano	[2:02]
5.	L’Église: to church for atonement Juice • Matthew Collins, organ	[3:39]
6.	Évocation: the Blessed Madonna of Hysteria Ebor • Matthew Long, tenor	[2:27]
7.	Messe Rouge: Pierrot-priest offers his heart Juice • Matthew Collins, organ	[2:14]
8.	Les Croix: poets bleed on the cross of poetry Ebor • Matthew Long, Chris O’Gorman, tenors	[2:19]
9.	Supplique: the spring of laughter is broken Linda Hirst	[1:57]
10.	Violon de Lune: moonlight serenade Juice • Christian Mason, violin	[2:46]
11.	Les Cigognes: melancholy storks at dusk Ebor	[1:49]
12.	Nostalgie: Pierrot longs for the old days... Ebor	[1:51]
13.	Parfums de Bergame: ... back in Bergamo where it all started Ebor • Matthew Long, tenor	[1:19]
14.	Départ de Pierrot: and he sets sail for home, in a lily boat Ebor	[2:33]
15.	Pantomime: some commedia dell’arte slapstick Red Byrd • Juice • Anna Myatt,soprano	[1:18]
16.	Brosseur de Lune: Pierrot on the town is bothered by a spot... Red Byrd • Juice	[1:48]
17.	L’Alphabet: Giraud’s coloured alphabet book Ebor • Juice • Omar Sharhyar, beatbox	[1:56]
18.	Blancheurs sacrées: but Pierrot is white Red Byrd	[2:01]
19.	Poussière rose: pink dust, Cassander and Cimarosa Ebor	[1:23]
20.	Parodie: the old Duenna yearns for Pierrot Red Byrd • Juice • Anna Myatt, soprano	[1:21]
21.	Lune moqueuse: poor old Cassander is sprayed by a unicorn Red Byrd • Anna Maria Friman, soprano	[1:18]
22.	La Lanterne: Pierrot walks the streets with a lantern Ebor • Helena Daffern, soprano	[1:25]
23.	Pierrot cruel: poor old Cassander…and a cranium driller Red Byrd • Juice • Anna Myatt, soprano	[1:40]
24.	Décor: the sun, a pink egg, shattered by blackbirds Ebor	[2:02]
25.	Le Miroir: back to Pierrot’s boudoir Red Byrd • Juice	[1:26]
26.	Souper sur l’eau: Commedia characters re-united Ebor	[3:51]
27.	L’Escalier: Pierrot prostrated on the marble stairs Ebor	[1:56]
28.	Cristal de Bohême: moon in a bottle: Giraud and Pierrot Ebor	[2:14]

The Hilliard Ensemble
Red Byrd
Juice
Ebor Singers &
Paul Gameson director
Linda Hirst mezzo-soprano
Joe Marsh Giraud (narrator)

Roger Marsh, long fascinated by the poems which Schoenberg set for his Pierrot Lunaire, has completed a setting of Albert Giraud’s brilliant and allusive original texts, ignored by Schoenberg commentators over the years.
Marsh’s settings use both the original French and a new English translation specially commissioned from Kay Bourlier — sometimes simultaneously — and feature solo voice, choirs, a human beatbox and a narrator in the role of the poet himself.

This recording, supervised by the composer, features early music stars The Hilliard Ensemble and Red Byrd, together with the exciting new vocal trio Juice and the Ebor Singers; also on this disc is the vocalist Linda Hirst, whose work has ranged from early music with John Eliot Gardiner to contemporary performance with Electric Phoenix.

"The sequence is wonderfully varied... Perspectives constantly change; it's diverting and surprising, worlds away from Schoenberg's overpowering work yet still mysteriously close to the essence of Giraud's unique imagination."
The Guardian

The Hilliard Ensemble recording Pierrot Lunaire at the National Centre for Early Music, York. (Photo by Roger Marsh)