Nell

The writer Charles Marie René Leconte, born on the French island of La Réunion, published his literary works under the nom de plume Leconte de Lisle (The Count of the island). His poem “Nell”, a poetic vow of eternal fidelity to the beloved, was written in 1852 and set to music by Gabriel Fauré in 1878. Long vocal phrases unfold over continuous sixteenth-note figurations in the piano, which combine emphatic depictions of nature and affirmations of love both in text and music. These art songs were originally composed not for chamber choir, but for solo voice and piano. Denis Rouger has carefully adapted them to suit the requirements and expressive possibilities offered by a larger ensemble, without losing the any of the qualities of the original in the process. Each part in the choir has a melodic line drawn from the harmonic and rhythmic framework. In the process, the variety and refinement of the choral language combines with an enormous flexibility in form and expression, as French melodies or German art song demand from a soloist and pianist. The songs have been recorded by the figure humaine chamber choir on the CD “Kennst du das Land...” (Carus 83.495).