Customer Reviews

Poulenc - Melodies / Ameling · Gedda · W. Parker · Sénéchal · Souzay · Baldwin

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a fine set. Dalton Baldwin accompanies each singer with clarity and zest. And who can resist the affectionate singing of the likes of Nicolai Gedda and Elly Ameling? The "melodies" themselves are magnificent--among Poulenc's finest creations. Whether you have other performances of these works or not, I think you'd be pleased with this beautifully recorded set. Certainly the 70's-vintage performances are more individual in profile, more "romantic," if you will, than those conjured by most of the "anonymous" singers of our own age. Recommended with enthusiasm.

Its very considerable advantage lies in its completeness. Poulenc was one of the very greatest songwriters of any era. If you have no Poulenc songs in your collection, start here. The recommendation of Kruysen is a fine one, but only after you have heard this as a basis of comparison. Of Ameling, Senechal, Souzay, Gedda, and Parker, the only disappointment is Parker, who - I'll just say it - sings with his usual bleat. Souzay is a shade past it in vocal quality, but he still understands these songs as well as anybody, with great declamation (and that, after all, is what most of French singing is about). The dryness of the voice is nowhere close to disastrous, as it might have been in Italian opera. Indeed, it lends an air of life lived, without excuses. Gedda is okay. The standouts are Souzay, Ameling, and Senechal. Baldwin accompanies superbly.

These performances are piquant and stylistically right on target. Even if Souzay is past his best here, he brings a lifetime of experience to bear and the other performers are wonderful. Ignore the curmudgeon who blasted this set. You will enjoy this tremendously if you love Poulenc.

'Poulenc Melodies' performed by a really impressive lineup of vocal talent including Elly Ameling and Nicolai Gedda is exactly the kind of recording you need if you are compulsive about having 'complete' collections of things. This shows a range of composition which smaller releases such as single CD 'Voyage a Paris' (Hyperion, with Felicity Lott and Graham Johnson)can give us. For starters, many of these chansom showed a lot more evidence of more modern stylings and a far greater range of interpretation. In fact, I even had to check the lyrics in the included booklet to verify that on some songs, the performers were singing in French. Even though I have a smattering of knowledge of French, I would have sworn that the singers were performing songs in Russian.

I am happy that all four discs run for more than 60 minutes. No cheap short changing here. If you don't want to spring for the large set, the Hyperion release is great, but this is worth every penny.

I have owned the LP-version of this set of recordings for almost two decades. A veritable treasure. Now that the cd-version is available, I hesitate to make the switch. I have listened to samples presented on Amazon's website and I really liked what I heard. So, I'm stuck with a major problem here!
Anyway, for me the absolute top performances here are those by William Parker and Elly Ameling. Ameling stands at the very summit of her glorious career here. She brings an unsurpassed natural brightness, tenderness as well as a sprightly innocence to these songs, fully in line with Poulenc's own distinctly Mediterranean "grande chaleur".
Parker not only carries a voice so completely unique and full of splendid, colourful nuances, but his French is impeccable, period. Such incredible splendour and wonderfully fine-tuned musicality should have been appreciated much more highly and explicitly by the big recording companies and public performance agencies of special repute. The man seems to have gone into total hiding for quite a while already. A shame and a pity.
However this maybe, buy this collection of absolutely marvellous mélodies. You'll cherish your set for the rest of your life.

If you are a Poulenc fan, this set is a must-have. The recordings are well-done and the pieces are not oversung...it is a fantastic collection of Poulenc's melodies.

This is a warning for all Poulenc fans NOT to take the bargain route and purchase this immense collection -- you might think you're getting a great deal but: the singing and pianism is substandard and doesn't do the music justice (remotely). Songs like Bonne Journe'e or Ho^tel are all but ruined... Here's what to buy: Bernard Kruysen's CD of selected Poulenc masterpieces (favoring the Elouard settings)... nobody will ever come close to Kruysen in interpreting Poulenc. Avoid THIS CD. They still get 2 stars for (1) being encyclical and (2) delivering clear and even sound quality.