Search - Faure, Chausson, Respighi :: Sophie Koch ~ Fauré - Mélodies de Venise Op58/1

Sopnie's Wise Choices

Edward L. Killham | Washington, DC USA | 07/12/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The young French mezzo-soprano, Sophie Koch, is featured in this selection of evocative art songs from the previous turn of the century, bracketing the year 1900. She is accompanied by an equally young and talented group of chamber musicians, incorporating the Quatuor Castagneri, Sophie Raynaud at the piano, and Vincent Pasquier on double bass. Together, they produce a wonderously haunting reflection of some of the most expressive songs written by Gabriel Faure', Ernest Chausson, and Ottorino Respighi. Faure' sets to music some verses by the great French poet, Paul Verlaine, while Chausson projects the plaintive lyrics of Charles Cros. As for Respighi, the only non-Frenchman, he leaps the language barrier entirely in his setting of Shelley's "The Sunset", in an Italian translation."