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Track(s) taken from CDA66801/2

Prière

First line:
Ah! si vous saviez comme on pleure
composer
1876
author of text
author of text

Dame Ann Murray (mezzo-soprano), Graham Johnson (piano)
Recording details: May 1993
St Paul's Church, New Southgate, London, United Kingdom
Produced by Arthur Johnson
Engineered by Keith Warren
Release date: October 1993
Total duration: 2 minutes 59 seconds

Cover artwork: Lord Byron and the maid of Athens. Sir William Allen (1782-1850)
Roy Miles Gallery, 29 Bruton Steet, London W1
 

Reviews

‘Exemplary … enchanting … ravishingly sung’ (The Daily Telegraph)

‘Superb … perfection … best of the year’ (The Sunday Times)

«Uniformement exquis» (Répertoire, France)

«C'est remarquable. Un coffret qui devient un événement» (Compact, France)

'Un stupendo doble compacto' (CD Compact, Spain)
Prière has a text by Sully Prudhomme, a poet associated in the public mind with Duparc and the earlier Fauré. Like Envoi de fleurs there is here the somewhat old-fashioned device of having a piano introduction and interlude in a faster tempo than that of the vocal line. The familiar Gounod hallmarks are all there, including melting sequences that in less cultivated hands would totter into the realms of bathos. The familiar unfailing touch in effective and touching word-setting has not deserted the composer.

from notes by Graham Johnson © 1993

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