Hyperion Debussy Songs

The fourth and final installment in a complete edition of Debussy songs might not seem to be a chartbuster, but that's just what this release by British soprano Lucy Crowe has become, and it deserves every bit of its success. In fact, you might even pick this one over the other three if you're looking to sample Crowe's approach: the program is exceptionally well put together, and it begins with Debussy's first published song, Tragédie, of 1881. There are several other early songs, giving insight into the young Debussy's romantic life as well as hints of the musical language to come and some real experiments (you could sample the Rondel chinois). From there, the program proceeds to later music but is not strictly chronological: instead Crowe leads you onto a path of extremely quiet songs wherein Debussy challenges the soprano to reside in her upper register, and Crowe meets the challenges beautifully. The tension is remarkable, with just a single piano solo and a pair of songs to Debussy's own texts (Nuits blanches, or Sleepless Nights) with baritone Christopher Maltman to break it. The music broadens out with some later songs, ending with Debussy's swan song, Noël des enfants qui n'ont plus de maisons, of 1915. The contributions of pianist Malcolm Martineau are substantial; he produces some truly eerie sounds in the quieter pieces. Highly recommended and often haunting.

Verlaine’s poetry lends itself well to music and many of his poems have been set successfully by numerous composers. Thus it was a brilliant idea to build a programme around Verlaine and include several settings of some of the poems. Since Carolyn Sampson has cast her net widely and included several rarely heard composers, we are offered a very comprehensive odyssey through the Verlainean waters.

If we know Koechlin at all it is because he orchestrated Fauré’s Pelléas et Mélisande Suite and Debussy’s ballet Khamma. In that very superficial sense his standing is akin to that of Caplet. Rather like Chandos, Hyperion can be relied on for exalted artistic and production standards. It’s completely consistent with these exemplary principles that they have chosen Robert Orledge to document this disc and that full sung texts and sensibly lad-out side-by-side translations into English are set out in the booklet.