Following their Linn debut, a ‘breathtaking album of songs by Gustav and Alma Mahler’ (The Herald), Karen Cargill and Simon Lepper return to fin-de-siècle Europe for a recital of songs by the ‘crème de la crème’ of late nineteenth-century French speaking composers. Entitled Fleur de mon âme, the album embraces the sensual soundworld of Hahn, Debussy, Chausson, Jongen and Duparc. The album opens with À Chloris which recalls the elegance of the seventeenth century before borrowing from the poetry of Ancient Greece in Chansons de Bilitis and setting sail on a calm sea with Chausson’s Sérénade italienne. Guest soloists from the Royal Scottish National Orchestra add orchestral colour to Chausson’s Chanson perpétuelle and Calmes, aux quais déserts by lesser-known Belgian composer Joseph Jongen. The compelling romanticism of Duparc’s songs complete this bouquet of soul-searching French mélodies.
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