Search - Francis Poulenc, Dalton Baldwin, Elly Ameling :: Poulenc - Melodies / Ameling · Gedda · W. Parker · Sénéchal · Souzay · Baldwin

Almost completely wonderful

Steve Schwartz | New Orleans, LA USA | 04/28/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Its very considerable advantage lies in its completeness. Poulenc was one of the very greatest songwriters of any era. If you have no Poulenc songs in your collection, start here. The recommendation of Kruysen is a fine one, but only after you have heard this as a basis of comparison. Of Ameling, Senechal, Souzay, Gedda, and Parker, the only disappointment is Parker, who - I'll just say it - sings with his usual bleat. Souzay is a shade past it in vocal quality, but he still understands these songs as well as anybody, with great declamation (and that, after all, is what most of French singing is about). The dryness of the voice is nowhere close to disastrous, as it might have been in Italian opera. Indeed, it lends an air of life lived, without excuses. Gedda is okay. The standouts are Souzay, Ameling, and Senechal. Baldwin accompanies superbly."

Indisputable Gallic flair

Finnamon | New York, NY United States | 06/05/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"These performances are piquant and stylistically right on target. Even if Souzay is past his best here, he brings a lifetime of experience to bear and the other performers are wonderful. Ignore the curmudgeon who blasted this set. You will enjoy this tremendously if you love Poulenc."

Essential for the chansom junkie. Buy It.

B. Marold | Bethlehem, PA United States | 10/25/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"'Poulenc Melodies' performed by a really impressive lineup of vocal talent including Elly Ameling and Nicolai Gedda is exactly the kind of recording you need if you are compulsive about having 'complete' collections of things. This shows a range of composition which smaller releases such as single CD 'Voyage a Paris' (Hyperion, with Felicity Lott and Graham Johnson)can give us. For starters, many of these chansom showed a lot more evidence of more modern stylings and a far greater range of interpretation. In fact, I even had to check the lyrics in the included booklet to verify that on some songs, the performers were singing in French. Even though I have a smattering of knowledge of French, I would have sworn that the singers were performing songs in Russian.



I am happy that all four discs run for more than 60 minutes. No cheap short changing here. If you don't want to spring for the large set, the Hyperion release is great, but this is worth every penny."