Pruvot, Pierre-Yves - Baritone

The fine surprise comes from Pierre-Yves Pruvot, who stepped in at the last minute as Scarpia. Pruvot is treachery incarnate, the most abject, Machiavellian baseness. With a virtuosic cynicism, he combines all the slyness of the character, all the subtleties and the incredible palette of shadings required by the psychology of such a manipulative monster. His Scarpia is so devilish in his lower register — as solid as bronze, confident in its capacity to harm, with an implacable rectitude of tone and a wealth of shadings. This lower register gives his voice an extroverted theatrical grain that never compromises the musicality of the role: a subtle balance between bestial sensuality and perfidy, literally fascinating in its lowness.

–      Roland Duclos, Forum Opéra

 

To my mind, the prize for the most convincing performance goes to French baritone Pierre-Yves Pruvot, to whom we owe a Nélusko of exceptional class. This artist has a magnificent voice and a sound technique that enable him to master the vocal difficulties of the role almost effortlessly. He is also a true actor who plays out no less impressively both his hatred for foreigners and his true love for his mistress.

–      Joachim Weise, Der Neue Merker

 

The man at her side — her devoted lover — is Nélusko, certainly the most active role in the plot. His character, somewhere between the faithful servant, the dedicated lover, the cunning and deliberately barbarous intriguer, between victim and culprit, is in the best of hands with Pierre-Yves Pruvot. He rises to heights of theatricality with his acting skills and his very versatile voice.

–      Jens Daniel Schuber, Sächsische Zeitung

 

On the quiet, the star of the evening is the slave Nélusko, who gets the action moving. Pierre-Yves Pruvot acts with great intensity, dominating the stage and moving even the sea with his legendary spirits.

–      Marianne Schultz, Freie Presse

 

Nélusko, held captive with [Sélika], whom he loves, is rendered by Pierre-Yves Pruvot as a sort of archaic, compulsive and impulsive creature, with an aura of invincibility, to which the French baritone does full justice, both as an actor and as a singer.

–      Michael Ernst, Neue Musikzeitung

 

On the other hand, perhaps the best character of the evening was Nélusko, played superbly by Pierre-Yves Pruvot, who at once became truly the centre of attention.

–      Eske Bockelmann, Stadtstreicher

 

Pierre-Yves Pruvot is a great Schicchi, with a sonorous, round, well-placed voice and a strong stage presence. He leads the action with stupendous assurance.

–      Jean-Luc Macia, Opéra magazine

 

The good-natured ogre embodied by Pierre-Yves Pruvot as Gianni Schicchi: Puccini clearly intended the role for him.

–      Jean-Marie Duhamel, La Voix du Nord

 

The composer appears on stage on better form than ever — a quite fascinating hedonist and gourmet, and a chef-cum-singer (even doing the cooking: Pierre-Yves Pruvot is splendid, outdoing Rossini himself in his portraits) — beside his two female companions and his contemporaries Auber and Meyerbeer.

–      Alexandre Pham, Classiquenews

 

The best role Rossini has to offer goes to Germano, sung exceptionally by Pierre-Yves Pruvot. With his precise diction, strong voice, perfect understanding of the text and fine sense of fun, the baritone makes the very best of this character, bringing out his amusing gullibility and awkwardness, but also the touching side of him, because he is so genuinely in love.

–      Brigitte Cormier, Forum Opéra

Pierre-Yves Pruvot works wonders and blunders as Germano. Disguised as a hat-stand in a sitting room, or as a pedestal table with a doily on his head, as if nothing could be more natural, intoxicated by the wine or moved by his young mistress who assigns him missions that are too difficult, with his baritone voice he renders all the nuances, and his acting is amazing.

–      Paul K’ros, Liberté Hebdo

 

And especially Germano — Pierre-Yves Pruvot. The baritone, who has been singing regularly with Jean-Claude Malgoire for years now and is today in great demand on European stages, is hilarious, expert at playing to the gallery. He emerges as the clear winner, judging by the applause — and deservedly so.

–      Jean-Marie Duhamel, La Voix du Nord

 

As for baritone Pierre-Yves Pruvot, he is quite simply brilliant as the tyrant Dourlinski. As soon as he enters, he has the audience riveted, with just a few simple lines. At last a singer who can speak a text like a true actor! And what declamation in his singing! Not a word is lost, and his exemplary delivery never hampers the singing line nor affects the legato. Well-versed in the art of the French mélodie and the German lied, he knows the impact of words. He is a great singer on the operatic stage, where his presence and generous tone work wonders. So Cherubini’s music suddenly comes to life, and an aria that, on the face of it, looks unpromising turns out to be captivating. Well done indeed!

–      Marcel Quillévéré, Forum opéra

 

Dourlinski is portrayed by Pierre-Yves Pruvot — needless to say, he is excellent! Touchy, bloody in both speech and disposition, Pruvot, with his powerful, colourful voice, sings with incredible fluency: the eloquence with which he launches the Act II quartet, “Non, non, perdez cette espérance”, for example, shows a singer who is thoroughly familiar with this repertoire.

–      Sébastien Gauthier, Concertonet

 

The cruel Dourlinski is portrayed with gusto by the baritone Pierre-Yves Pruvot, who seems to take a contagious pleasure in embodying to the point of parody this villain, with his forceful, sonorous voice and strong dramatic impact.

–      Nicolas Grienenberger, Classiquenews

 

With his usual impeccable style and wonderful delivery, Pierre-Yves Pruvot portrays this wicked character with gusto.

–      Catherine Scholler, Resmusica

 

Pierre-Yves Pruvot sings Céphale. His voice and his appearance are impressive. He is living proof that a baritone capable of tackling the great nineteenth-century French operatic roles is also welcome in this repertoire.

–      Jacques Bonnaure, Opéra magazine

 

Pierre-Yves Pruvot’s tone and stature make him an imposing Golaud, haunted by his passions.

–      Christian Fruchart, Dernières Nouvelles d’Alsace

 

Pierre-Yves Pruvot is truly worthy of esteem as Golaud; his voice is amazingly solid, and he embodies his character with a rare force of conviction.

–      José Pons, Opéra international

 

 

Pierre-Yves Pruvot, as Scarpia, is completely at his ease. A great performance as a singer, and a great performance as an actor.

–      Jean-Marie Duhamel, La Voix du Nord

 

Pierre-Yves Pruvot brilliantly portrays Scarpia as a grand seigneur with elegant manners and depraved morals. This aristocratic nature shows too in his highly stylish and very classical singing, with sharp delivery and a power such that he never has to resort to shouting, despite the fierceness of the character.

–      Richard Letawe, Classiqueinfo

 

The voice is dark, powerful and, generally speaking, quite comfortable in the extreme notes, sung sonorously and with ease.

–      Paolo Bullo, Opera Click

 

Baritone Pierre-Yves Pruvot took the opportunity to unleash all his power.

–      Dejan Bozovic, Il Gazzettino

 

We are fascinated by baritone Pierre-Yves Pruvot’s delivery and smooth inflections.

–      Claudio Gherbitz, Il Piccolo

 

The cast is dominated by Pierre-Yves Pruvot’s well-rounded Figaro, with a timbre as enthralling as ever, sharp delivery, vocal agility, a brilliant upper register and, especially, great vocal fluency and phenomenal projection.

–      Richard Letawe, Resmusica

 

 

 

The tyrant Dourlinski suits Pierre-Yves Pruvot down to the ground: he just loves villainous roles (I’d like to see him as Gaveston in Boieldieu’s La Dame blanche). And what beautiful phrasing!

–      Bruno Peeters, Crescendo magazine

 

Pierre-Yves Pruvot easily outshines his partners: his Arcalaüs, with his generous, powerful voice, his rich tone, captures the full stature of the sorcerer and portrays a malevolent yet appealing character.

–      Michel Parouty, Diapason

 

Pierre-Yves Pruvot’s Arcalaüs is quite simply exceptional: a hate-inspiring brother, an untiring goad to the vocally rich and vehement Arcabonne, sung by his offstage wife, Hjördis Thébault.

–      Benjamin Ballifh, Classiquenews

 

Pierre-Yves Pruvot is an awe-inspiring Adam. His thundering baritone immerses the audience in the fateful role of the father of all men. We recognize the ingenious, faultless prosody and the incomparable musicality that were such a delight in the recital he gave at Versailles in 2008.

–      Pedro-Octavio Diaz, Muse baroque

 

Pierre-Yves Pruvot is the great winner. With his warm, powerful voice, superb tone and seasoned sense of declamation (just listen to his “Charmant séjour, lieux solitaires”, half-dramatic, half-heroic, in Act I), he gives a perfectly impeccable performance.

–      Sébastien Gauthier, Concertonet

 

A remarkable release: a real lesson in singing for the benefit of a neglected French repertoire. Thanks first of all to the performers: both have the power and the brilliance required for such works, probably neglected for want of suitable singers. Pierre-Yves Pruvot proves himself the worthy heir of the heroic-baritone tradition that he perpetuates with his colleagues Fondary and Rouillon, among others. Thanks to these exceptional singers and their talent and perfect elocution, the French Romantic repertoire is taken to impressive heights.

–      Bruno Peeters, Crescendo magazine

 

The husband-and-wife team of Hjördis Thébault et Pierre-Yves Pruvot provides eloquent advocacy of all this music, finding both the lighter touch for Thomas's orientalismes and the extrovert expressivity for more dramatic excerpts.

–      Carlos Maria Solare, Opera

 

Variety and versatility are the key words here, with the two performers having a field day, showing splendid vocal valiance and vigour, enabling them to serve this neglected repertoire with a conviction unreservedly shared by the listener. The couple felicitously prove how many unsuspected and insufficiently explored marvels remain to be discovered in nineteenth-century French opera. Recordings such as theirs bear witness to this and are indispensable.

–      Jean Lacroix, La Revue générale

 

Adopting the appropriate style, the couple shine in these numbers truly worthy of interest: an ornate, vibrant, expressive voice on the one hand, and one that is robust, elegant and imposing on the other.

–      Sébastien Foucart, Concertonet

 

The singers pay here the finest of tributes to the French Romantic opera style: the pure intonation, the constant concern for articulation and natural projection are obvious arguments to which it is difficult to remain indifferent.

–      Ernst Van Bek, Classiquenews

 

Here is an invaluable recording of a Romantic repertory that has been largely forgotten today. By exceptional artists, with broad lyricism and clear delivery. 

–      Francis Cousté, L’Éducation musicale

 

Hjördis Thébault and Pierre-Yves Pruvot fly here to the rescue of a noble cause, an endangered body of masterworks: nineteenth-century French Romantic opera, with its purely French tone, its sharp, clear, lofty diction, its pure, natural distinction at the service of the music and the words. The other miracle of this recording is the line, the phrase. Pierre-Yves Pruvot has that incredible breath control inherited from the likes of Massard and Blanc.

–      Christian Colombeau, Sortir ici et ailleurs

 

The baritone’s voice is beautifully textured, rich, sharp, with effortless and strictly controlled emission. Both singers share a precious quality: clear diction.

–      Michel Parouty Diapason

 

A baritone whose diction and style are impeccable, at ease throughout his range, perfectly suited to noble roles, but also capable of stepping down to a character such as Michel in Le Caïd.

–      Laurent Bury, Forum Opéra

 

Best is baritone Pierre-Yves Pruvot as a colorful Falstaff who sings without mugging but pays close attention to shadings and accents.

–      Robert Levine, ClassicsToday.com

 

Pierre-Yves Pruvot’s Falstaff is delightfully larger than life.

–      Jean-Claude Lacroix, Opéra international

 

Pierre-Yves Pruvot is a traditional, larger-than-life Falstaff with plenty of vocal energy.