Chausson: Dans la forêt du charme et de l’enchantement, Op. 36 No. 2

The brief but close friendship between Chausson and Debussy was based, it would seem, on the attraction of opposites. The bourgeois, god-fearing, happily married Chausson, living on inherited money in a spacious apartment on the fashionable Boulevard de Courcelles, was free to pursue high-minded, respectable projects like his Symphony in B flat, declaring his allegiance to his teacher, the pater seraphicus, César Franck, or his opera, Le Roi Arthus, an attempt to transplant Wagner onto French soil. Debussy on the other hand, a bohemian, an atheist, with a roving eye, especially for green-eyed blondes and a love-hatred for Wagner that would inspire many of his finest works, was to be beholden to no one – hence his famous reply when asked what rules he followed: ‘Mon plaisir’. But it was in the field of the mélodie that the two men came closest.

Yet put the two composers side by side, as we witness in this creatively and intelligently conceived recital, and it takes your breath away. This was one of Christine Schäfer’s earliest recordings, during which time she was signed to Deutsche Grammophon, and Irwin Gage’s pianism is no mere ‘accompaniment’ – it is a vital ingredient and a partnership of equals.

The award-winning pairing of soprano Sandrine Piau and pianist Susan Manoff received unanimous critical acclaim for their previous recital disc Evocation, (V5063). On their new CD Après un rêve they perform a fascinating collection of songs by some of the greatest composers for the voice of the 19th and 20th centuries, including Richard Strauss, Fauré, Mendelssohn, Chausson, Poulenc, Britten and Vincent Bouchot.

After initially making her reputation in Baroque music alongside the likes of William Christie, Philippe Herreweghe, Christophe Rousset, and René Jacobs, Sandrine Piau now sings a broad repertoire reflected in her large discography. and she has now confirmed her position at the forefront of the new generation of French singers. Her Handel album with Christophe Rousset and Les Talens Lyriques (E8928), was an Editor’s Choice in Gramophone, and in 2007 she released an award-winning recital CD entitled Évocation (V5063), on which she was accompanied by the pianist Susan Manoff. Après un rêve demonstrates once again the strength of her musical relationship with Manoff, with whom she appears regularly at venues like the Carnegie Hall and the Wigmore Hall. Her solo discography for Naïve also includes a programme of Mozart opera arias with the Freiburger Barockorchester (V4932), and two recent bestselling Handel albums, duets with Sara Mingardo directed by Rinaldo Alessandrini (OP30483) and the solo album Between Heaven and Earth with Accademia Bizantina (OP30484).