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Jerry Dubins
SÉVERAC Le roi a fait battre tambour. 1 Le roi Renaud. 1 MEYERBEER La chanson du maiître Floh. 1 Le moine. 1 SAINT-SAËNS La danse macabre. 1 Le pas d'armes du Roi Jean. 1 POULENC Chansons gaillardes. 2 IBERT Les chansons de Don Quichotte 2 · Shadi Torbey (bs); 1 Lionel Lhote (bar); 2 David Miller (pn); 1 Daniel Blumenthal (pn) 2 · CYPRÈS 9618 (55:15)
This could have been a wonderful vocal recital, as well as a significant addition to the French chanson discography, especially to that of four of its five composers who are better known for their contributions to other musical genres. Unfortunately, the disc is divided equally between the two singers in the headnote, and half of it is sabotaged by one of them--but more of that below. Allow me to deal first with the program, which is quite imaginative, even ingenious.
Déodat de Séverac (1873-1921) is surely the least known of the composers here. Neither an Impressionist nor a member of the group that called itself Les Six (with which Poulenc was associated), Séverac was a product of the famous Schola Cantorum founded by Félix Guilmant and...