Today, singers and their pianists are often more willing also to explore
repertory by composers who are much less well known. Also, a CD can carry much
more music than the typical LP. Carolyn Sampson—an established light
soprano—here offers an entire, well-stocked disc of Verlaine settings by no
fewer than ten composers: the inevitable (but always welcome!) Debussy and
Fauré, but also Saint-Saëns, Chausson, Ravel, Reynaldo Hahn, Charles Bordes,
Déodat de Séverac, Joseph Szulc, and Régine Wieniawski Poldowski (daughter of
the famous violinist).
This does not produce a scattershot effect because several cycles or sets
are recorded entire (Debussy’s Fêtes galantes, series 1, and
Ariettes oubliées; and Fauré’s La bonne chanson). Also, the
songs of Poldowski are grouped together, as are those of Hahn. The single songs
by Ravel, Szulc, et al., thus come as refreshment after a group of tracks by
one composer.
Source: Opera Today
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