It's uncommon to hear a body of songs performed by an accompanist, bringing together a variety of singers for the project. However, that's what pianist Malcolm Martineau did with his cycle of Poulenc songs, and he's done it again with Fauré, a substantial four-volume series of which this release is the last. It has much in common with the first three, with eight singers joining Martineau and matched in his estimation with proper repertory. Most are British, and they represent an appealing mixture of old hands and up-and ...
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It's uncommon to hear a body of songs performed by an accompanist, bringing together a variety of singers for the project. However, that's what pianist Malcolm Martineau did with his cycle of Poulenc songs, and he's done it again with Fauré, a substantial four-volume series of which this release is the last. It has much in common with the first three, with eight singers joining Martineau and matched in his estimation with proper repertory. Most are British, and they represent an appealing mixture of old hands and up-and-comers. Countertenor Iestyn Davies may be a surprise, but he is effectively deployed in more impersonal numbers like Noël, Op. 43, No. 1. The richer, plummier numbers go to veteran soprano Isobel Buchanan, and younger baritone John Chest is a fine, restrained match for the L'horizon chimérique set, Op. 118, from the end of Fauré's life. Yet throughout, the star is once again Martineau, who is an expert in the exquisitely subtle language of Fauré's songs, where a fleeting thought may be...
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