Fauré’s songs represent his art at its most radiant, demonstrating the composer’s exceptional gift for melody as well as his acute sensitivity to the subtleties of the greatest French poets of the day. In La bonne chanson, the result is a song cycle like few others: an ecstatic hymn to the beloved (the composer’s mistress) which celebrates the triumph of love. Here, it provides a glorious opening to Nicky Spence and Julius Drake’s all-Fauré recital.
‘Spence, in wonderful voice here, sings with bronzed tone, a keen sense of line and a reined-in intensity that allows words and emotional shifts to register fully. There’s a telling surge of feeling a ...
‘This is a superb Fauré recital from Spence, whose ardent voice and emotional fearlessness fill these songs with life and colour and passion; lovely recording also’ (BBC Record Review)
The Guardian
‘This is a superb Fauré recital from Spence, whose ardent voice and emotional fearlessness fill these songs with life and colour and passion; lovely recording also’ (BBC Record Review)
The Guardian