Saint-Saëns: Danse macabre, Op. 40

Undoubtedly ONYX’s highlight of the year is the first recital disc for 5 years by the great American mezzo Susan Graham. Beloved by audiences the world over, this outstanding recording is sure to be much in demand worldwide.

The unique programme provides a celebration of French song in an unusual way – instead of groups of songs by several composers Susan has opted for a single song by 22 different composers from Bizet to Poulenc. This is the programme she and Malcolm Martineau her regular accompanist took on tour in the USA and Europe in 2007/2008. Reviews were unanimous “confirms Susan Graham as the ideal package she is” (Music Web) “resistance is futile” (New York Times); superb, exquisite (Chicago Tribune)

Susan Graham is particularly at home in French repertoire, one of the few non-French singers recognised by the French themselves when they made her a Commandeur dans L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. Susan refutes the idea that all French vocal music sounds the same: "This programme has everything: loud, soft, high, low, fast, slow, romantic, acidic."

Includes some surprises- Saint-Saëns’ Danse Macabre for example, known by everyone as a orchestral showpiece but in fact first written as a song, but hardly ever performed as such; and some favourites such as Hahn’s À Chloris and Canteloube’s Brezairola, but far more discoveries such as the gorgeous Psyché by Paladilhe and Bachelet’s ecstatic Chère Nuit.

In 1979, the much-loved British cellist Jacqueline du Pre, then beset with multiple sclerosis (she was diagnosed in 1973), stepped into the recording studio to make what was to be her last recording - not as cellist, but as an engaging narrator in Peter and the Wolf. Her husband Daniel Barenboim conducted a spacious and relaxed account of this timeless story. The coupling was an expanded version of the movements that are frequently heard as Leopold Mozart's Toy Symphony - the Cassation in G. Her spirit ever indomitable, du Pre had actually taken part in performances of this work in 1976 at the Royal Albert Hall, playing a toy drum. (Earlier, as a little girl, she performed it with much enthusiasm on a television show, managing to rupture the instrument!).

This timeless recording has never before been released on CD, and in the spirit of musical-storytelling it is released coupled with two other favourites - Dukas's Sorcerer's Apprentice and Saint-Saens's Danse macabre both recorded some years later by Barenboim.

Frédéric Champion won the 2008 Canadian International Organ Competition, a prestigious new competition in Montreal that plays an important role in recognizing and promoting the value of organ music. He was born in Lyon and has won many prizes and awards. This CD includes works by Widor, Duruflé, Alain, Dupré and Saint Saens.