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LYS GAUTY - CHANTEUSE EXTRAORDINAIRE

James Brooks | Aberdeen, Scotland Scotland | 08/01/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Lys Gauty (Alice Gautier) is perhaps the greatest of all the chanteuses. While some would prefer the more overt emoting of Piaf, the classically trained Gauty was the most vocally accomplished of all.She is by far the most subtle of her number, inflecting the text wonderfully according to the mood of each song and able to conjure up an astonishing range of vocal colours, from robust mezzo for "men's" songs to light soprano for more feminine numbers. In her hands, each song becomes a miniature play, and it's easy to see why she was one of Kurt Weill's favourite interpreters of his songs.The CD covers a good selection of her songs - its one drawback is that it will leave you wanting for more, and though she recorded extensively from the twenties to early fifties, there is little else available at present. A wonderful memento of an extraordinary artiste."