# Single Round: Delage Hindu Poem: Baker, von Otter, Upshaw



## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

For my birthday this Friday I am offering up a song that I found on a public library lp I discovered when I was in still in high school and which is the most beautiful song I've ever heard. I will be very surprised if any of you have ever heard it before. Incidentally, no sitar was used in the making of this music. All of these artists are very talented at interpreting this very haunting music. Here are the lyrics:
*Lahore: Un sapin isolé*
Heinrich Heine , translated by Gérard Labrunie
Un sapin isolé se dresse sur une montagne
Aride du Nord. Il sommeille.
La glace et la neige l’environne
D’un manteau blanc.
Il rêve d’un palmier qui là-bas
Dans l’Orient lointain se désole,
Solitaire et taciturne,
Sur la pente de son rocher brûlant.
*Lahore: A lonely fir-tree*
English Translation © Richard Stokes
A lonely fir-tree stands on a mountain’s
Barren northern heights. And drowses.
Ice and snow envelop it
In a white blanket.
It dreams of a palm-tree which grieves
Far away in the distant East,
Solitary and silent
On a blazing rocky wall


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

All three do a smashup job but for me Baker stands out because of her possessing one of the most heavenly sounding voices of all time. Von Otter has a beautiful voice and a gorgeous interpretation but it always bothers me that she is considered a mezzo and yet her voice is totally soprano in sound to me. Upshaw is as always a first rate performer but I prefer the more amber tone of Baker.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

As it happens, I've known these Delage songs for many years and the Baker recording has been in my collection since my LP days. I also have the Upshaw version, which is on a lovely recital called _The Girl with Orange Lips_. The Von Otter one I'm hearing for the first time.

All three versions are very good, but for me Baker brings out more of the exoticism of the songs, the wordless melismas absolutely ravishing. She also gives them a sort of improvisational flair. Upshaw's girlish timbre is also lovely, but I prefer Baker's richer sound.

Von Otter somehow sounds more conventional. Her voice is beautiful but a little anonymous and she doesn't so much evoke the oriental excoticism of the song.

Baker for me.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Tsaraslondon said:


> As it happens, I've known these Delage songs for many years and the Baker recording has been in my collection since my LP days. I also have the Upshaw version, which is on a lovely recital called _The Girl with Orange Lips_. The Von Otter one I'm hearing for the first time.
> 
> All three versions are very good, but for me Baker brings out more of the exoticism of the sosngs, the wordless melismas absolutely ravishing. She also gives them a sort of improvisational flair. Upshaw's girlish timbre is also lovely, but I prefer Baker's richer sound.
> 
> ...


This makes me glad that you know and love these. I agree, as wonderful as von Otter's voice is it has no distinctive sound to it, something I value. I think as lovely as she is and as good of an interpreter she would likely be a top notch performer in a live production. I feel the same way about Joyce Didonato, who is great in video but anonymous in recordings.


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## Barbebleu (May 17, 2015)

I’m with Tsaras on this. I too have had the Baker for many years and I’ve always loved these eastern flavoured French songs. Quite a few French composers were influenced by the sub-continent and theses songs are a beautiful reflection of that influence. Otter and Upshaw are no slouches but I give the nod to Dame Janet.

btw, happy birthday Seattle. Have a great day and stay safe.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Happy birthday! Three of my favourite singers in this context, and I own the Upshaw CD sincethe nineties (it was even my avatar for many years). All three versions are excellent in my book, with Baker and Upshaw sharing first place.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Art Rock said:


> Happy birthday! Three of my favourite singers in this context, and I own the Upshaw CD sincethe nineties (it was even my avatar for many years). All three versions are excellent in my book, with Baker and Upshaw sharing first place.


Nice to hear you chime in. I actually saw Upshaw in concert back 20 odd years ago and her voice was easily heard and very beautiful in Benaroya Hall here. Thanks for the good wishes. At this point in my life I am so grateful that so many in the group seem to enjoy most of my contests as I love sharing this way. I always loved show and tell as a kid.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Happy Birthday, John!


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

MAS said:


> Happy Birthday, John!


That was FUN!!!!!!!!!! Thanks.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Happy Natal Day John. I hope it is filled with beautiful sounds of music.

Well here I am again in my little corner. But after giving much thought to all 3 who were actually so close that it made it difficult for me to really pay attention and nail it down by finally choosing the type of voice sound that appealed the me the most and I kept coming back to Upshaw.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Seattleoperafan said:


> That was FUN!!!!!!!!!! Thanks.


Leave it to you MAS, that was simply fabulous. Made my day.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

I’m glad SOF and Nina found the happy birthday bash amusing - it’s a pity they didn’t have a more operatic bent, but we take what we can get, eh? 🌹


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

MAS said:


> Happy Birthday, John!


Absolutely fabulous! What a terrific bithday gift! I'll have to remember this one.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Thanks to (almost) everyone else I don't have to say anything except "Baker."


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## superhorn (Mar 23, 2010)

Speaking of French music with a Hindu theme, the opera/ballet "Padmavati " by Albert Roussel ( 1869-1937 ) is one of the forgotten gems of French opera . Very rarely perfomed since in 1923 premiere at the Paris opera , "Padmavati " is. like no other French opera you have ever heard . It's a fantastically colorful and exotic story about the 16th century conquest of India by the Turkic people known as the "Mughals " or Moguls false Mongols but really central Asian Turks , and Roussel's music is like a kaleidoscope of exotic colors . "Padmavati " is the story of. the lust of the conquering Mughal. sultan. Alauddin for the dazzlingly beautiful queen. Padmavati of. the Indian city of Tchitor , ruled by her valiant husband. the Maharaja. Ratan Sen . But the people are still very wary about the visit and fear the Mughals .
The wicked sultan makes an official visit to the city , falsely claiming to make peace with the Maharaja and the people of the city and is shown around the city to see its. riches and. people . He asks to see the beauty of Padmavati, and Ratan Sen reluctantly does this , even though the queen is considered to be an earthly deity by the people of the city . He sees her and is overcome by her unearthly beauty . 
In reality, a renegade Brahmin priest who is himself hopelessly in love with her and had been thrown out of the city because of this has. told the sultan about her and become an advisor to the Sultan . Then he warns the people about the sultan's ominous threat which he himself had never made himself : If the queen is not immediately given to the sultan he will. destroy the entire city with his mighty army and kill. everyone with no exceptions . The enraged people then trample the Brahmin to death and. a state of war is declared by Ratan Sen who propares to fight the Mughal army . Padmavati is horrified and fears the worst will happen . 
In the second and final act , Padmavati and her female attendants and. Hindu priests have been hiding in a secret Hindu temple . Ratan Sen returns wounded and begs Padmavati to give herself up in order to save the city and its people, but she steadfastly refuses and tells him. he will be reborn a lowly animal if. he does this . Then she stabs him to death and must now. 
undergo a ritual immolation in the fires of the temple according to Hindu custom because she is now a widow . At the end of the elaborate ritual of immolation , she plunges fearlessly into the flames . 
Now the sultan and his troops have found the secret temple and burst in . But it is too late ! Sometime before he wrote this fascinating and unique opera, Roussel had actually spent time visiting India with his wife ! There he heard. traditional Indian music and even rode on an elephant , and this enabled him to. write music which was not merely pseudo Indian. as with. 
more familiar exotic French operas such as Delibe's "Lakme". and Bizet's "Les Pecheurs de Perles . " , set respectively in India and. the island country now known as Sri Lanks ( Ceylon ) . 
I have the superb EMI recording with Marilyn Horne in the title role, Nicolai Gedda as her husband and. Jose van Dam as the sultan , with Michel Plasson conducting the Toulouse Capitole orchestra , On youtube, you can hear the live London performance conducted by. Jean Martinon , who studied with the composer , with. the late Rita Gorr in the title role .
First rate performance, but the sound is nowhere near as good as. the spectacular. digital. recording of the EMI studio recording . 
"Padmavati" has yet to be performed in the US , although. excerpts were done several years ago with. Christoph Eschenbach and the Washington national symphony . On the first half of the program, there was a work by a contemporary Indian composer mixing western and Indian instruments . Too bad they didn't perform the entire opera . 
Leon Botstein should do this opera. with his American symphony orchestra at the Bard. college summer festival.


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