Composing over 150 works for piano and voice over a period of 44 years, the songs of Francis Poulenc remain consistently popular to concert audiences the world over. Varying in their individual style and character in a way that defies generalization, Poulenc set music to a wide range of different French poetry - both ancient and modern, and from the serious to the surreal. This is the third release in our series that will build to encompass the complete songs of Francis Poulenc - performed by some of the greatest singers of the day and accompanied by the exceptional Malcolm Martineau. Praise for the first disc includes: "Lisa Milne performs wonderfully throughout this Poulenc disc. She really sings the French as to the Manoir born ... A nicely balanced and arranged recital for all of these voices, so a promising start to this new Poulenc series." - Hilary Finch and Andrew McGregor - CD Review - BBC Radio 3
"...With eight outstanding singers and the pianist all on top form, this is the most attractively inviting of these Poulenc anthologies so far issued."
Ivan March - Gramophone magazine - April 2012
"...The contribution throughout this disc from Martineau is outstanding: his voicing of Poulenc’s pulsating chords is just one of the features of his playing that makes for such absorbing listening. The recording captures both voices and piano with a natural-sounding warmth and clarity..."
Nigel Simeone - International Record Review - February 2012
Performance ***** Recording ****
Robert Maycock - BBC Music magazine - February 2012
