Gérard Souzay sings Chausson & Duparc

On this CD:

1. Poème de l'amour et de la mer for voice & orchestra, Op 19
Composed by Ernest Chausson
Performed by Gerard Souzay

2. Elégie ("Oh! ne murmurez pas son nom!"), song for voice & piano (or orchestra)
Composed by Henri Duparc
Performed by Dalton Baldwin, Gerard Souzay

3. Le manoir de Rosamonde ("De sa dent soudaine et vorace"), song for voice & piano (or orchestra)
Composed by Henri Duparc
Performed by Dalton Baldwin, Gerard Souzay

4. Phidylé ("L'herbe est molle au sommeil"), song for voice & piano (or orchestra)
Composed by Henri Duparc
Performed by Dalton Baldwin, Gerard Souzay

5. Extase ("Sur un lys pâle"), song for voice & piano (or orchestra)
Composed by Henri Duparc
Performed by Dalton Baldwin, Gerard Souzay

6. La vague et la cloche ("Une fois, terrassé par un puissant breuvage"), song for voice & piano (or orchestra)
Composed by Henri Duparc
Performed by Dalton Baldwin, Gerard Souzay

7. Soupir ("Ne jamais la voir"), song for voice & piano (or orchestra), Op. 2/1
Composed by Henri Duparc
Performed by Dalton Baldwin, Gerard Souzay

8. Testament ("Pour que le vent te les apporte"), song for voice & piano (or orchestra)
Composed by Henri Duparc
Performed by Dalton Baldwin, Gerard Souzay

9. Sérénade florentine ("Étoile dont la beauté luit"), song for voice & piano (or orchestra)
Composed by Henri Duparc
Performed by Dalton Baldwin, Gerard Souzay

10. Lamento ("Connaissez-vous la blanche tombe"), song for voice & piano
Composed by Henri Duparc
Performed by Dalton Baldwin, Gerard Souzay

11. Chanson triste ("Dans ton coeur..."), song for voice & piano (or orchestra), Op. 2/4
Composed by Henri Duparc
Performed by Dalton Baldwin, Gerard Souzay

12. La vie antérieure ("J'ai longtemps habité..."), song for voice & piano (or orchestra)
Composed by Henri Duparc
Performed by Dalton Baldwin, Gerard Souzay

13. L'invitation au voyage ("Mon enfant, ma soeur"), song for voice & piano (or orchestra)
Composed by Henri Duparc
Performed by Dalton Baldwin, Gerard Souzay

Tracks:

I. Chanson Romanesque - Gerard Souzay
II. Chanson Epique - Gerard Souzay
III. Chanson A Boire - Gerard Souzay
II. Ballade Que Villon Feit A La Requeste De Sa Mere Pour Prier Notre-Dame - Gerard Souzay
II. La Grotte - Gerard Souzay
Mandoline - Gerard Souzay
Nanny, Op.2 No.1
Le Charme, Op.2 No.2
Serenade Italienne, Op.2 No.5
Le Colibri, Op.2 No.7
Cantique A L'epouse, Op.36 No.1
Les Papillons, Op.2 No.3
Le Temps De Lilas
La Vie Anterieure
Le Manoir De Rosemonde
elegie
Phidyle
Soupir
Chanson Triste
Lamento
La Vague Et La Cloche
Serenade Florentine
Testament
Extase
L'Invitation Au Voyage

Customer Reviews:

A great singer is fading away.......2005-12-08

At about the same time that recording companies were profitably supporting a "rivalry" between Maria Callas and Renata Tebaldi, they were stirring up a similarly profitable competition between Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Gérard Souzay. Imagine it, once there was a time in which money could be made from singing lieder!

Souzay, was born as Gérard Marcel Tisserand in 1918. He attended the Paris Conservatoire from 1940 to1945. In 1944, while still a student, he made his professional debut and his first two recordings. He did a limited amount of operatic work, even essaying the role of Don Giovanni, but his true field of operation was song. His opera career is represented on CD by memorable performances of "Manon" (with Beverly Sills) and "Pèlleas et Mèlisaunde," but his recorded songs from 1944 to 1987 number about 750 in at least fifteen different languages. He died in 2004.

I first became aware of Souzay more than forty years ago when a singer-friend suggested I try him when I got weary of Fischer-Dieskau. At the time I wondered how anyone could tire of the great German baritone. Not very long after that, of course, I found that I could bear the sound of the excellent but ubiquitous and damnably too-familiar sound of DF-D no longer. Gérard Souzay was an instant curative. To this day, it is Souzay's voice I hear in my mind when I think of the lieder of Schumann and Schubert. In French art song, Souzay was simply without rival.

I find to my dismay that the memory of this great French performer is fading. Amazon still lists 45 of his titles on CD, but only 22 of them are still in print (or whatever the proper term should be for a recording.) As I write this, only 13 of the 45 titles have attracted Amazon reviews and, worse, only seven of his solo CDs have been reviewed. This is more than dismaying; it's downright ominous. The memory of a wonderful talent seems well on its way to oblivion, to the sad diminishment of us all.

In January 2000, an unnamed Amazon reviewer wrote this of Souzay, "In these performances he surpassed Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau in a number of respects -- sheer style, beauty and range of tone, naturalness, depth of expression". Yeah.

Five stars!