MÉLODIES D'AILLEURS
The duo's first album entitled “Mélodies d'ailleurs” was released by Carpe Diem Records in May 2024. The CD is available physically and digitally. Listen to it here.
First reviews:
“Already in the six almost entirely melancholy Ariettes oubliées based on poems by Paul Verlaine by Claude Debussy, the young soprano's advantages are evident, as she has no problems with the sometimes extreme intervallic leaps. (...) This continues in five songs by Ernest Chausson, which are somewhat simpler than Debussy's, when different emotional states are also rendered here with perfect legato and thus extremely soft voice leading. (...) Four fine miniatures by Cécile Chaminade are performed with effervescent lightness and restrained dreaminess. The well-done CD concludes with five songs by Reynaldo Hahn, which are again performed with a natural purity of intonation and light voice leading in excellent partnership.”
Geerd Heinsen on operalounge.de (14.06.2024, translated from german)
"They give the singer Viviane Hasler the opportunity to show her dramatic side within the lyrical program (...) The voice is of austere beauty, the expressive palette very versatile, in Chaminade and Hahn she can sound very girlish, but elsewhere she does not shy away from sharp accents.”
Ekkehard Pluta on klassik-treff.de (21.06.2024, translated from german)
“... Viviane Hasler, whose understanding of the text is as evident as her elocution. Each piece is artfully served, by both voice and piano, with scrupulous respect for the spirit and the slightest indication from the composer. At first, the vocal color is surprisingly youthful, to the point that the correspondence with "Le Noël des enfants" seems obvious. The program finds the appropriate sonorities for each passage, from tender reverie to violent passion. (...)
For the piano has as much to say to us as the voice, eloquent and sensitive. (...)
Reynaldo Hahn's five melodies are a constant delight, from A Chloris to L'heure exquise. Delicacy, emotion, sensuality and serene plenitude (Si mes vers avaient des ailes) are the hallmarks of a generous interpretation. (...)
Viviane Hasler's voice reveals an uncommon richness: the palette is wide, the dynamics extreme, the delivery masterly, matched by the most varied colors. (...)
Vocal and musical maturity in full bloom, a piano that is as accurate, ample and free as it is complicit - what more could you ask for?
Yvan Beuvard on forumopera.com (20.6.2024), translated from french
“The timeless elegance of the French fin de siecle merges with contemporary sounds. The French composer Cécile Chaminade, who is only just being rediscovered, deserves special mention. Her simple songs are full of naturalness and intimacy.”
Pizzicato - Remy Franck's Journal about Classical Music, 26.3.2024, translated from german
‘Viviane Hasler's voice demonstrates its creative potential here (in the five Hahn songs, and especially in the quieter and most quiet passages), which tends towards the seemingly will-o'-the-wisp and sleepwalking-like; everything seems somehow spherical, detached and yet remains more down-to-earth than ever. The musical lines are straightforward, no unnecessary or even forcing vibrations. An aural treat!’
Andre Sokolowski on kultur-extra.de (18.7.2024), translated from german
"All of them are often sung favourites of the Hasler/Gamper duo. You can hear this in the maturity with which they make music here. Whether delicate, restrained singing or exuberant songs such as the ‘Villanelle’ by Cécile Chaminade, who is also represented with ‘Alleluia’, ‘Ma première lettre’ and ‘La lune paresseuse’, their romantically simple grace or fin de siècle sophistication, framed by Rihm, is particularly effective."
Klaus Kalchschmid on opern.news (16.8.24), translated from german
"Versatile, yet recognisable in all nuances and even in the spoken passages in ‘Ophelia sings’ by her timbre with a slight roughness, Hasler shimmers through the album. Sometimes she sings with introspection, sometimes desperately directed outwards. And sometimes innocently light, as in Chaminade's ‘Villanelle’"
Diana Sonja Tobler, Lu zerner Zeitung(19.10.24), translated from german
The Duo
Soprano Viviane Hasler and pianist Maren Gamper have been performing together for many years. As a duo, they develop programs with songs and solo piano works, linked by improvisations on the piano. The duo was selected as a Pro Argovia Artist 2020/21 and performs regularly at concerts and festivals in France and Switzerland.
In their programs, the two musicians do not simply present a sequence of pieces, but interweave them in concert through improvisations. It is important to them to introduce the audience to lesser-known pieces from the huge song repertoire. They like to combine lyrical melodies with surprising, funny and quirky pieces.
Their repertoire includes works by Debussy, Chausson, Chaminade, Elgar, Schubert, Wolf, Poulenc, Bizet and Hahn. A much-played favorite work is Leonarnd Bernstein's "Bonne cuisine", in which he sets recipes to music in a witty and virtuoso manner. Concert arias by W.A. Mozart and the Ophelia songs by contemporary composer Wolfgang Rihm were added to the program as breaks.
