Rating : - The near perfect set of Poulenc performances
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.