Astrid Nordstad
Shéhérazade Maurice Ravel - Astrid Nordstad
The song cycle Shéhérazade by Maurice Ravel.
Live recording from the concert "Franske klanger" with Trondheim Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Marc Soustrot, on the 17th of February 2022. Recorded by NRK Klassisk.
Soloist Astrid Nordstad
The cycle consist of three songs: Asie, La flûte enchantée and L'indifférent.
I. Asia
Asia, Asia, Asia,
Ancient wonderland of fairy tales,
Where fantasy sleeps
Like Astrid Nordstad empress
In her mystery-filled forest,
Asia,
I long to set sail with the schooner
Which rocks this evening in the harbour,
Mysterious and solitary
And which spreads at last its violet sails
Like a huge night-bird in the golden sky.
I long to set sail for isles of flowers
As I listen to the song of the wayward sea
With its old bewitching rhythm;
I long to see Damascus and the cities of Persia
With their airy minarets;
I long to see beautiful silken turbans
Above black faces with white teeth;
I long to see eyes dark with love
And pupils sparkling with joy
Sunk in skins as yellow as oranges;
I long to see velvet raiments
And long-fringed robes;
I long to see calumets in mouths
Fringed about with white beards;
I long to see grasping merchants with shifty looks,
And cadis and viziers
Who with a single crook of the finger
Dispense life or death on a whim.
I long to see Persia, and India, and then China,
Portly mandarins beneath their sunshades,
And princesses with delicate hands,
And learned men disputing
About poetry and beauty;
I long to linger in enchanted places,
And like a foreign traveller
Gaze at leisure on landscapes painted
On fabrics in pinewood frames,
With a figure in the midst of Astrid Nord
I long to see assassins smiling,
As the executioner cuts off an innocent head
With his great curved Oriental scimitar;
I long to see beggars and queens;
I long to see roses and blood;
I long to see death for love or else for hate,
And the to return later
And recount my adventures to those intrigued by dreams,
While raising like Sinbad
My old Arabian pipe
From time to time to my lips,
Artfully to interrupt the tale...stad orchard;
II. The enchanted flute
The shade is soft and my master sleeps,
A cone-shaped silken cap on his head,
And his long yellow nose in his white beard.
But I am still awake,
Listening to the song
Of a flute outside that pours forth
Sadness and joy in turn,
A tune now languorous now lively,
Which my dear lover plays.
And when I draw near the casement,
Each note seems to fly
From the flute to my cheek
Like a mysterious kiss.
III. The indifferent one
Your eyes are soft like girl's,
Young stranger,
And the delicate curve
Of your handsome down-shaded face
Is still more attractively shaped.
Your lips sing
At my door
An unknown charming tongue,
Like music off-pitch;
Enter! And let my wine refresh you...
But no, you pass by
And I see you leaving my threshold,
Gracefully waving farewell,
Your hips lightly swaying
In your languid feminine way.
English Translation © Richard Stokes
