Folk-song meets art-song

Javier Morireal meets the soprano Maria Bayo "The big challenge in these songs is to retain the essence of folk-song, that ingenuous quality it has, keeping well clear of grandiose excess, artificiality or oversophistication, which is the danger with such a rich orchestra. And yet the singer must be faithful to the score too, which certainly specifies certain dynamic levels, certain dirninuendos and crescendos, and great intensity. That is the difficult thing, marrying those two aspects together successfully."

For a soprano whose operatic roles currently embrace Cavalli's La Calisto and Mozart's Le noz:e di Figaro (both at this year's

Salzburg Festival) with Les conies d'Hojjrnann (later at Houston), the chance to sing that perennial favourite of lyric sopranos (and mezzos), Canteloube's chants d'Auvergne, was welcomed with open arms by the Spanish soprano Maria Bayo. "I was very keen to record the chants d'Auvergne. I had gone on a tour of Japan with the Auvergne Orchestra performing these pieces: it was a great success, though what counted most was the enthusiasm I felt for these works. From the point of view of technique, they suit my voice. They rather centre on the mid range, as you would expect from music of folk origin, but they do have real substance. In the end, though, it is the evocative power of the music that draws me to it: the sense of breadth, fresh air, of simplicity in the midst of the grandeur of nature, of song born of love. These settings blend the simplicity and beauty of the melodies with colourful, rich orchestral writing, very much in the tradition of French orchestration."

For a Spanish singer the challenge of singing in the Auvergnat dialect presented fewer problems than for, say, an American or an Australian. "There are just a few consonants that are different in that dialect, the sounds mostly being the typical Latin language sounds, sharing features with French, Spanish, Italian and so on. Actually it was probably harder hitting the right tempo. One has to remember that the songs are based on folk rhythms, often ones intended for dancing. So apart

From studying the dialect I visited the region, immersed myself in its landscapes, its rhythms, its people. I realized that the songs are much more than just descriptive: they have great human depth, the ageold wisdom of the people.

Unlike other recordings of these popular pieces, Bayo and her conductor Victor Pablo Perez - with whom, incidentally, she is recording the title-role of Arrieta's Marina for Auvidis add the rarely heard Basque folk-song arrangements. "When I was studying the chants c/A uvergne, I was struck by the fact that a musician from abroad -as Canteloube was - should have made arrangements of the folksongs of my own land, songs I had often sung when I was studying at music school in Pamplona. What I said for the Auvergne songs goes for these ones too: in addition to the orchestra's richness there are also the rhythms and the 'sauciness' of the words to be borne in mind. Though in the case of the Basque songs there was no special difficulty involved since I have known them all my life."

Maria Bayo

PIu,io ,iuidj, A select discography Cavalli La Calisto Concerto Vocale I René Jacobs

Harmonia Mundi CD CD HMC90 1515/7 (9/95) Mozart Arias Galicia Symphony Orchestra I Victor Pablo Perez

Auvidis Valois CD CD V4790 (6/97) Sorozábal La tabernera del puerto Galicia Symphony Orchestra I Victor Pablo Perez

Auvidis Valois CD CD V4766 (1197) Vives Doha Francisquita I Tenerife Symphony Orchestra I Antoni Ros Marbã

Auvidis Valois CD Ci) V4710 (9/94) Canciones Españolas Juan Antonio Alvarez Parejo

Ctaves CD CD CD50-9205 (6/93)