EUROPE / EUROPA

LONDRES / LONDON

"Laplante has a timbre remarquably similar to Souzay's songs, a warm and expressive singer..." ( Grammophone )

Bruno Laplante is a Canadian with a charming light baritone voice, who has studied with Pierre Bernac and seems to have modelled his style and his admirably clear and natural-sounding verbal enunciation on those of his master... the best of these songs still possess a period charm when sung with such taste and elegance. ( Grammophone )

... But my final choice is Massenet's Poème d'avril, plus thirteen well-chosen songs, offered by the French-Canadian Bruno Laplante, both mellifluous and expressive, with Janine Lachance's crisply nuanced piano. They will give much pleasure to unprejudiced ears, and should restore to favour a song-writer whose best work has, especially in France, been absurdly dismissed with his worst... ( The Sunday Times )

PARIS

"... Bruno Laplante, Choufleuri désopilant..." ( Opéra international )

... son style est charmant, sa voix agréable, ses voyelles sont franches et distinguées. Merci pour ce récital digne de modèles qu'on pouvait croire oubliés, ou inimitables... ( Harmonie, Paris )

... Ce formidable Arcalaüs n'est autre que Bruno Laplante, héritier de la grande tradition française (étudiant auprès de Raoul Jobin et de Pierre Bernac), dont la notoriété est très inférieure au pouvoir tellurique de sa diction de feu, avec de plus une voix extraordinairement saine, claire comme une française, mordante comme une italienne.
Par ailleurs, Arcabonne est tenue ce soir-là par Felicity Palmer, Armide de Gluck absolument mémorable, à la présence toujours électrique et aux couleurs mauves inquiétantes. ( DavidLeMarrec, « Johann Christian Bach, Amadis de Gaule - au delà de la troisième école », Carnet sur le sol, OperaCritiques.free.fr )

GENÈVE / GENEVA

"... distinction de style, pureté de l'expression..." ( Le Journal de Genève )

FRANCFORT-sur-le-Main / FRANKFURT

"Bruno Laplante's zu leichtem Flattern neigendes Timbre gab der Kaputtheit des Roderick Usher adäquaten Ausdruck..." ( Frankfurter Allgemeine )

AMSTERDAM

"... sublieme sang van Laplante.. " ( Het Parool )

... De sfeer wordt overal meesterlijk door de Canadese bariton Laplante en zijn landgenote Janine Lachance getroffen ; Laplante doet in het piano en het mezza voce niet onder voor Souzay in zijn beste tijd... ( Luister )

LA HAYE / DEN HAAG

"... Laplante excelleert in liederen van Poulenc.." ( N.R.C. )

BRUXELLES

"... le choix des mélodies, l'utilisation expressive de la voix, l'interprétation grandiose et richement élaborée nous rappelaient les récitals de Bernac et Poulenc." (Het Laatste Nieuws)

"... ce bel artiste me semble le plus attachant héritier des grands interprètes de la mélodie française..." (Revue des disques)

AMÉRIQUE / AMERICA

NEW YORK

...At least one disk of Massenet songs merits a place in any vocal collection, and that has been supplied with exemplary taste and sensitivity by the Canadian bariton Bruno Laplante... (New-York Times)

... Mr. Laplante supple voice and graceful interpretations make these disks a highly attractive proposition (Reynaldo Hahn, Massenet, Gounod, Chausson, Frank, Lekeu...)  (New-York Times)

"... Bruno Laplante's light, easily produced baritone is both a pleasant instrument in itself and an ideal conduit for Massenet's world of delicate ardor and nostalgia-in-advance.

His technical security is generally admirable, his connection on all levels with words – he is Québecois – complete. Above all, he exhibits troughout that ability to convey the subtleties of inner emotional fluidity and that absolute directness of address to the listener that make singing not only a natural means of communication from heart to heart, but the only possible one. « Sensitive » is an overused adjective, but I can't think of a better one to describe Laplante's successful exploration of this material. ..." ( Fanfare, New-York )

Bruno Laplante is in command of a supple, expressive, and seductively attractive baritone. His French, as would be expected, is impeccable. He is also a singer of great expressive range and subtlety, able to project variously the humor and gravity of these gemlike songs. Marc Durand seconds him hand in glove. The recording is more than fine. I wish that the piano were given a little more weight and color. In light of the beauty of Laplante's voice and his appealing musical intelligence, I can understand well the producer's focus.
This is a most enjoyable and illuminating offering, one that not only fills a phonographic void, but ascends to the status of essential release in the process. ( Fanfare, New-York )

MEXICO

"El baritono y la soprano son dos artistas de solida formacion, de muy bellas voces, con diccion perfecta. Duenos de una agradable y simpactica personalidad, con vestuario elegante y siempre adecuado.." ( El Gallo Ilustrado, Mexico )

QUÉBEC / QUEBEC CITY

"... intelligence musicale peu commune. Son interprétation, subtile, d'un style très juste, des « Histoire naturelles » de Ravel, n'aurait pas démérité de figurer auprès de la plupart des actuels « spécialistes » de la mélodie française, voire même d'en laisser quelques unes derrière elle!" (Le Soleil )

MONTRÉAL / MONTREAL

... le baryton canadien chante avec un grand raffinement, manifestement hérité de son professeur, le grand Pierre Bernac. La diction est très soignée, comme l'exige ce genre où le texte a autant d'importance que la musique... (La Presse)

"Charm is Bruno Laplante's long suit, not charm in the sense of an acquired social technique, but rather the magic variety. A number of modest and familiar ingredients are combined in a secret formula to produce a mysterious and fascinating result." ( The Montreal Star )

...L'interprétation de Bruno Laplante est transparente, très belle ; sa phonétique est excellente. Il fait une part exacte entre la densité du mot et la densité de la note, et ça c'est l'art de l'interprète de la mélodie. Tout est parfaitement clair, tout à l'honneur de ce jeune interprète... (Radio-Canada, Chronique du disque, Pierre Mollet, baryton)

... Perhaps the finest illustration of Hahn's special gifts is to be found in a recent recording made by the canadian baritone Bruno Laplante... Laplante gives a sensitive and beautifully clear account of 21 of the songs, an it is the kind of recording that deserves a place in anyone's collection. ( The Montreal Star )

TORONTO

"Bruno Laplante was 'captivating' in the role of Sganarelle..." ( Opera Canada )

"This revelatory repertoire is superbly performed by the Québec baritone Bruno Laplante whose controlled and discreet singing presents the music in all its beauty without over-statement. Colour, phrasing, diction are all exemplary. ( The Globe and Mail )

OTTAWA

"Mr. Laplante is an exceptional interpreter. Each solo song was a vocal miniature masterpiece." ( Journal Review )

AUSTRALIE / AUSTRALIA

SYDNEY

"...What a delightful recital it was when Bruno Laplante and France Duval brought us a repertoire which, to our loss, is almost totally neglected here. Poulenc and Duparc, we know, but add Satie, Reynaldo Hahn and Messager, and you have a program which blends charm and sophistication. Both singers had the full measure of these qualities. Laplante with a large voice susceptible to meticulous refinement ; Duval can pass from fluorescent brightness to a coy operetta mode in the twinkling of trill." ( The Sydney Morning Herald )

ASIE / ASIA

TOKYO

"... a delightfully masterful interpretation ..." ( Asahi Shinbun, Tokyo )

"... fascinating voices..." ( Mainichi Shinbun, Tokyo )

"... delightful and rewarding evening..." ( Japan Times, Tokyo )

"... each selection reflected the singer's exquisite taste and artistic sensitivity as well as his intelligent style and sympathy for the music..." ( Japan Times )

HONG KONG

"The singing was full of passion and the piano full of vigour..." ( Wah Kiu Yat Po )

BEIJING

"Laplante moved between octaves with dexterity and complete ease. His eyes took on a faraway look as he sang, as if he was carried away to a panorama of fairy land, forests, and the sea." ( China Daily )