Gabriel Fauré: Mélodies / Barbara Hendricks

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Faure is the great 19th-century song writer, a composer with a positive gift for evoking mood or setting an atmosphere with the bare minimum of means, and "La bonne chanson is his song-cycle masterpiece. Anna Russel, the famous comedienne, says that the French art song features "magnificent poetry set to rather wispy music." Well, this certainly doesn't apply to Faure, whose style, though often gentle and seductive, is as substantial as it gets. American soprano Barbara Hendricks is one of the most popular singers in France. She sings the language like a native, and her quicksilver voice, with its characteristic, tight vibrato lends the music an appropriate aura of barely suppressed passion. --David Hurwitz

Tracks:

Op.7, No.1: Apres un reve...
Op.46, No.2: Clair de lune...
Op.58, No.1: Manoline...
Op.83, No. 1: Prison...
Op. 23, No.2: Norte Amour...
Op.18, No.3: Automne...
Op.23, No.3: Le secret...
Op. 27, No.1: Chanson d'amour...
Op.27, No.1: La fee aux chansons...
Op.39, No.2: Fleur jetee...
Op.43, No.2: Nocturne...
Op.46, No.1: Les presents...
3 Poemes d'un jour, Op.21: Rencontre
3 Poemes d'un jour, Op.21: Toujours
3 Poemes d'un jour, Op.21: Adieu
Op.18, No.1: Nell...
Op.39, No.4: Les roses d'lspahan...
Op.8, No. 1: au bord de l'eau...
Op. 23, No.1: Les berceaux...
La bonne Chanson, Op.61: I. Une Sainte en son aureole
La bonne Chanson, Op.61: II. Pisque l'aube grandit
La bonne Chanson, Op.61: III. Lan lune blanche
La bonne Chanson, Op.61: IV. J'allais par des chemins perfides
La bonne Chanson, Op.61: V. J'ai presque peur, en verite
La bonne Chanson, Op.61: VI. Avant que tu ne t'en ailles
La bonne Chanson, Op.61: VI. Donc, ce sera par un clair jour d'ete
La bonne Chanson, Op.61: VII. N'ecst-ce pas?
La bonne Chanson, Op.61: VIII. L'hiver a cesse

Amazon.com

Faure is the great 19th-century song writer, a composer with a positive gift for evoking mood or setting an atmosphere with the bare minimum of means, and "La bonne chanson is his song-cycle masterpiece. Anna Russel, the famous comedienne, says that the French art song features "magnificent poetry set to rather wispy music." Well, this certainly doesn't apply to Faure, whose style, though often gentle and seductive, is as substantial as it gets. American soprano Barbara Hendricks is one of the most popular singers in France. She sings the language like a native, and her quicksilver voice, with its characteristic, tight vibrato lends the music an appropriate aura of barely suppressed passion. --David Hurwitz

Customer Reviews:

She's good, very good.......2006-01-16

Some critics have said that her vocal capabilities are limited. To be quite honest, I don't know if that's true or not, but whatever gifts God has given her, she exploits them to the full. This is a very good recital of Faure's songs, one of the best I've heard in fact (and I've heard quite a few.)

Dalberto is also very good.

Yes, highly recommended.

indispensable.......2005-09-28

This is a lovely recital -- Hendricks at the height of her powers, singing music she was born to sing, idiomatically and with a gorgeous shimmer to the voice and insinuating inflections that convey Faure's quite particular combination of chaste reserve and sensuality. The famous cycle "La bonne Chanson" may not have all the textual acuity of its recorded rivals, but Hendricks' version of "Les roses d'Ispahan" is worth the price of the disk many times over.