INTERVIEW to STÉPHANE DEGOUT Recipient Of

THE QUINTESSENTIAL FRENCH BARITONE - INTERVIEW TO STÉPHANE DEGOUT

by Santiago Rodrigo Hilara

Recipient of the ‘Lyrical Artist of the Year’ at the Victoires de la Musique Classique awards ceremony in 2012, French baritone Stéphane Degout was appointed ‘Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres’ the same year, in recognition of his 'significant contribution to the enrichment of French cultural heritage'. From that date up till now, his versatile baritone has grown to become the most sought-after Pelléas of our time, a specialist in mélodie française and one the most regarded artists by contemporary opera composers.

After this year's success in Benjamin's Lessons in Love and Violence at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and as Rodrigue in Verdi's Don Carlos in Lyon, his 2018/2019 begins with Valentin in Teatro Real's production of Faust, simultaneously with the new launch of a new album (Harmonie du Soir, under harmonia mundi, with the participation of soprano Sophie Karthäuser and pianists Eugene Asti and Alain Planès) and the news that the recording of Berlioz's Les Troyens he was part of has now earned multiple awards. Earlier this year, his collaboration with conductor Raphaël Pichon, Enfers, an opera-like construct comprising Rameau and Gluck at their most infernal, has been one of Opera News Magazine's Critic's Choice and has garnered praise elsewhere, as well.

- How do you feel about these two albums coming out this year? - The Enfers project and Debussy are so different, but they're two sides of the repertoire I like singing. In Enfers we built an opera with different scenes from different operas, and in the case of the Debussy album, it is only French songs by him, as we HAD to do something - it's the 100-year anniversary of Debussy’s death. When I say 'we', I mean myself as a singer and pianist Alain Planès as a specialist in Debussy. Now, all these albums... I arrived to them, basically, by chance. These two we are talking about have been with harmonia mundi, but I also made other two: Histories Naturelles and another one that will come out in January, I think - it's another recital we made in Paris at Théâtre de l'Athénée. Live. And the program is different, romantique, with Schumann, Brahms and Fauré. So in a bit more than a year and a half, it's been four, five CDs because, I also just recorded Les nuits d’été with François-Xavier Roth and his orchestra Les siècles two weeks ago, and this one will also come out next year, in February. harmonia mundi offered me to do this, which is nice, as it is rarely a baritone who does it… Van Dam did, Bacquier did... but nobody from my generation.

- You follow a long history of notable French baritones, both when it comes to mélodie française and opera, who are your references ? - I have several references, of course, from different generations like, Charles Panzéra in the twenties, who created some songs of Fauré like L´horizon chimérique and stuff like this; Michel Dens, he's a baritone I really like, and also because he has my type of voice. I really like José Van Dam, but our voices are very different. Also Camille Morane - I like him, because he was a great Pelléas of his time; he made two recordings of Pelléas and a lot of song, and he has unfortunately been associated to only that. I think he would have made good opera stuff, with a light voice. And also Robert Massard, in a very different way. All these people have different voices and also have different ways of singing and treating the text. Robert Massard is more viril, and Michel Dens and Camille Morane are

-What’s the meaning of Pelléas in your career? - It was a little bit difficult to go to Pelléas, because when I started my studies, most people told me I had the voice for it, but I had my doubts, because I didn't have the top notes, which are very necessary (laughs). The first time I listened to it, I really thought it wasn't for me - I didn’t like it and I found it really hard to go inside this music and this special world of poetry. The text is very specific, but year after year, I found some keys to listen to it and to learn to like it, and the more I sang it, the more I discovered. In the whole repertoire Pelléas is very specific, because it tries to break with 19th century music, which was very academic, with influences like Verdi, Wagner, other French music, and in the middle of it, Debussy was tired of it basically, and also tired of the way we made music at that time, the way we performed the music, so he wanted to create something new, more simple, more closer to the text. This is something I believe in very much: the text first. I read an interview to Thomas Hampson where he was asked why he had never sung Pelléas, considering his type of voice, and he said something like “ Pelléas is a cul-de-sac”, you can’t go further. And he was right, actually, but it’s important to put Pelléas in context with the rest of the repertoire, because it is actually connected to French songs, for example. I really think that if I hadn't sung French songs when I was student, I would have never been able to sing Pelléas today.

- And do you think you can go further after Pelléas? - Well, I had to stop singing Pelléas because it was time to say goodbye in a way.

-You are doing Golaud, now. - Only as a try, OK? (laughs) Just a try. It’s a concert with a piano, perfect for me. These eight years singing Pelléas have kept my voice light, and it obliged me to use the softness of my voice and also obliged me not to push and force.

- Very much like your choice of baroque repertoire did for you, as well. - Yes, it’s true - both these repertoires are really based on the text. 18th century music is close to parlando, déclamation. They say Lully and Charpentier went to the theatre to listen to actors say the text, so they could copy the way they were doing it and they would write music according to it. I don’t know if it is right or not, but still...

- It sounds plausible. - Completely.

- Now, how do you feel a little further away from that style, in characters like Valentin, for instance? - His music is beautiful, the aria is beautiful, the last scene when he dies is also nice to sing, but it isn't the music I prefer. Gounod is really connected to his time, the 19th century, and Debussy is more universal, more general. For instance, operas like Wozzeck [by Berg] - which is amazing and is a role I want to sing (laughs) - or Saint François d'Assise [by Messiaen] broke with their times. And in the past, Gluck arrived in Paris and also broke the rules... Berlioz even. Gounod didn't make any revolutions - he made great music with the rules of his time.

- How do you feel about Lessons in Love and Violence? How do you see yourself working in the future with new contemporary projects? - Lessons will come in Madrid in three years. Contemporary music appeared in my career by chance, basically, because La Monnaie's Peter de Caluwe asked me if I was interested in doing a new opera. I said, 'Yes, why not?', and actually I enjoyed it. I was very curious and careful. So the first one was La dispute by Benoît Mernier, and then for some reason many people thought I was a specialist in modern music (laughs). I worked in two operas with Philippe Boesmans I really liked [Au monde and Pinocchio], and this year it was my turn with George Benjamin. These three composers are very careful with the voices and also with the texts. They want the text to be heard, they want the story to be followed