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12/26/2025
Ambroise Thomas: Psyché
Hélène Guilmette (Psyché), Anoinette Dennefeld (Eros), Tassis Christoyannis (Mercure), Mercedes Acuri (Dafné, first nymph, second Echo), Anna Dowsley (Bérénice, second Echo, first Echo), Artavazd Sargsyan (Antinoüs, a young lad), Philippe Estèphe (Gorgias), Christian Helmer (The king), Hungarian National Choir, Csaba Somos (chorus master), Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra, Győrgy Vashegyi (conductor)
Recording: Béla Bartók Hall, Müpa Budapest, Budapest, Hungary (February 10‑12, 2025) (World Premiere Recording) – 140’ 61
Bru Zane BZ1062 (Distributed by Naxos of America) – Book in French and English
There is good music, there is bad music, and then there is Ambroise Thomas.”
Emmanuel Chabrier
This ambiguous remark can slant both ways, depending upon the individual consulted. M. Chabrier’s enigmatic quotation brackets “cautious hesitancy”. Ambroise Thomas was born in Metz, deep inside the Moselle département of the Alsace region. M. Thomas came from a musical family and can be considered a “mainstay” within the walls of the French Romantic Era. Several successes, indeed, including the recipient of the esteemed Prix de Rome in 1832.
Though proficient through the windows of orchestral, chamber, piano, organ and sacred/secular œuvres, it was then the first portion of compositions in the operatic venue which focused more on his comedies, likely due to the fact that his predecessor, Daniel-François-Esprit Auber, was heavily invested in opéra-comique. With the premiere of La Double Echelle in 1837, Thomas hung on to a string of other creations in this musical azimuth, including that of Psyché in 1857. Generally-speaking, much of Ambroise Thomas’ operatic output was buried into virtual neglect, with exception of his 1866 Mignon and grand opéra, Hamlet, two years later. Mildly steeped in Auberian tradition with a backdrop of Meyerbeerian exactitude, his later assignment as the professor of composition at the Conservatoire, Thomas yielded to uncompromising philosophies in the conservative school. This is where Ambroise Thomas turned to the modeling of composers such as Halévy, Meyerbeer and earlier Rameau. While no hints of acquiescing to other “counter” “schools of thought” (including Wagner and Franck) prevailed, Ambroise Thomas stuck with a grounding that was stable, “predictable” and formulaically soft without controversy at the time.
So where does Psyché stand, relative to the other creations that moved the timeline forward? Some writers ponder his music as trite, “formulaic”, restrained from novel invention and free of anxiously tense conditions. As the clock moved forward, Ambroise Thomas’ creations were quickly engulfed at the end of the 19th century by the likes of Verdi, Puccini and visions inside the verismo arena. Despite the trends of the time, the Alsatian’s music is skirted with gracious reserve and eloquent tradition...conventional yet palatable.
This Bru Zane World Premiere Recording turns back to the original format, as was presented at the opéra-comique on January 26, 1857. True to form, the template utilizes spoken dialogue and has willowy traces back to Rossini (vis‑à‑vis Auber), mild Berlioz persuasions, later anticipatory reminisces of Delibes, Massenet (specifically his 1884 Manon...and a student of Thomas), Offenbach and even spouts of weighty Verdi (again, the Italianate influence). Within the opening “Introduction”, one can discern earlier influences and vestiges of La Cour de Célimène (1855) including the use of thirds (ref: the Duo‑Suite, “Mais qui donc êtes‑vous?” involving Eros and Psyché). Despite, the aforementioned nuances, Ambroise Thomas concocted lines of mellifluous dimension, shying away from strident friction (as opposed to other up‑and‑coming composers). Nothing in M. Thomas musical vocabulary trends as an aberrant “irritant”, yet his “tensions” transform into something of a totally mild and unique French blend. The musical formula retains delectably wispy upward runs (especially in the woodwinds, and flutes in particular) which re‑emphasize his “conservative” grounding and politely-forward dramatic tensions, sans ballistic fortitude.
Hélène Guilmette controls the requisite voice in the eponymous role. After her vivacious and zany portrayal as Princesse Laoula in L’Etoile, her musical assignment of the ill‑fated Psyché places her into the top limelight with difficult passages with different levels of musical contrast. Since 2019 her voice has seasoned a bit: her soprano range still retains a bona fide lusciousness and beautiful inflection, though the vocal reaches are better situated within the lower notes. Similarly, Eros, the love interest, assigned to Antoinette Dennefeld, presents a weightier, deeper register...apropos for this “rôle en pantalon”. Tassis Christoyannis’, a frequent performer within the Bru Zane family, possesses an amiably lightened baritone voice that’s filled with character and mischievous behavior as the manipulative Mercure. The supportive casts of “amusing evil‑doers”, Mercedes Arcuri (Dafné) and Anna Dowsley (Bérénice) add vivacious, punctuated dialogue to Thomas’ score while the roles of Antinoüs and Gorgias, sung by Artavazd Sargsyan and Philippe Estèphe, respectively, elicit perfect touches of animated vocalization and bombastic dynamics. Their “Quartet” within Act III (ref: “Ah! Ah!”) adds a lift of hilarity.
The choir inside Psyché plays a key role in the “shading” of vocal moments. Here, conductor Győrgy Vashegyi provides a mellifluous blending of all voice type from the Hungarian National Choir. Nothing is excessively harsh, and it rests pleasantly on the ear. As is required in mythological stories, a gorgeous blend of ethereal bliss prevails with lovely color. Group numbers add fundamental delight of celestial softness without over‑exertion. This contributes to the overall finesse within this opéra-comique.
Much of Ambroise Thomas’ music has been scuttled; however, Bru Zane is poised with a mission: to re-enact and rediscover more treasures. This music is gentle on the ear: approachable, yet mildly demure with gracious orchestral sections painting an idyllic setting.
Bru Zane has resuscitated a lovely and delicately nuanced opéra-comique.
Christie Grimstad
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