In the SIGNUM CLASSICS CD SIG735 Visions Illuminées, English soprano Mary Bevan, the possessor of a radiant lyric voice, sings in flawless French a repertoire that ranges from Benjamin Britten’s setting of Arthur Rimbaud’s surreal Les Illuminations through well-known Debussy, Chausson, and Duparc mélodies, with the addition of a brace of charming rarities by the Irish-French Augusta Holmés. She is superbly accompanied throughout by the 12 Ensemble and by the Ruisi Quartet, and always supported by her collaborator, the peerless pianist Joseph Middleton in a lovely album of French vocal literature both rare and familiar.

In the ALPHA911 CD Voyage Intime, soprano Sandrine Piau, well known and beloved for her work in French Baroque Opera, surprises us with her idiomatic handling of Lieder, both lyrical and dramatic by Schubert, Liszt, Wolf, and Clara Schumann, and in familiar and rare mélodies by Lili Boulanger, Henri Duparc and Claude Debussy. In both musical territories she is impeccably accompanied by David Kadouch.

Rafael de Acha (c) 2023