baritone Julien Van Mellaerts & pianist Alphonse Cemin in an imaginative trawl via the denizens of a Paris cemetery

The opening two songs occupied a poetic area, considerate and with sense of remembrance, emotion recollected in quietness. ‘Die Rose, die Lilie, die Taube, die Sonne’ was vividly vigorous, representing a sudden emotional change, however the preliminary poetic area returned. The sturdy opening of ‘Im Rhein, im heiligen Strome’ was accomplished with a severe, highly effective postlude that led to the bitter resonance of ‘Ich grolle nicht’. The quiet intimacy returned with ‘Und wüßten’s die Blumen, die kleinen’ although right here the feelings tumbled by, and we ended with actual bitterness in ‘Das ist ein Flöten und Geigen’.  Although ‘Hör’ ich das Liedchen klingen’ was bleak, there was magic within the spare textures the 2 performers created. Mild remembrance, sorrow and an actual sense of character unfolded over the subsequent few songs, although ‘Ich hab’ im Traum geweinet’ additionally launched an eerily threatening aspect. ‘Aus alten Märchen winkt es’ was vivid and vigorously, drawing on Van Mellaerts’ superb story-telling abilities, while ‘Die alten, bösen Lieder’ had a sluggish construct in direction of a strong climax that unwound into quiet depth after which a splendidly consoling postlude from Cemin.

After this got here two songs from Berlioz’ Les nuits d’été. Not solely did Berlioz go to Heine in Paris however he too was buried in Montmartre cemetery. La spectre de la rose started with Van Mellaerts gently unfolding expressive phrasing, however he actually opened out within the climaxes and Cemin’s delicate piano taking part in meant we hardly missed the orchestra, then within the last part the 2 had been mesmerising. L’ile inconnue actually carried us away, with Van Mellaerts swagger complimented by Cemin’s impulsive piano, but the narrative was stuffed with partaking character.

One other denizen of the cemetery, Lili Boulanger’s track Attente units a poem by Maurice Maeterlink, on whose work she was additionally basing her unfinished opera La Princesses Maleine. Attente proved to have a really distinctive environment, with quiet depth mixed with a way of world weariness.

Poulenc’s Banalités from 1940 units a disparate group of poems by Guillaume Apollinaire. Chanson d’Orkenise was stuffed with vivid character, the superb phrases delivered with a pleasant swagger. Resort took us too a extra severe, intimate place, world weariness combining with wealthy harmonies. Fagnes de Wallonie ;was a vivid patter track, with a terrific sense of story-telling. Then Voyage a Paris carried us away with partaking allure, earlier than the slightly severe Sanglots the place Van Mellaerts actually relished the wealthy resonance of Apollinaire’s language.

We ended on a barely lighter notice. Yvette Guilbert’s 1927 track, Je m’embrouille, one other chattering track, phrases delivered at pace with a pleasant sense of character and story telling. The contrasted with the mild melancholy of Charles Trenet’s L’ame des poete from 1950, a cabaret track but splendidly delicate too.

There was an encore, too, Eric Maschwitz and Manning Sherwin’s A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Sq..