Album

The songs of Henri Duparc, Claude Debussy, and Francis Poulenc are stylistically dissimilar, as far as they are products of temperamentally different composers and their respective times. Duparc, the most unabashedly Romantic, composed the earliest versions of his chansons between 1864 and 1884. Debussy, despite his more innovative sense of tone color and harmony, shares much of Duparc's fin de siècle ethos, since he wrote his chansons between 1880 and 1903. Poulenc, on the other hand, composed his songs decades later, and though his sets from the 1930s to the early '60s reflect emotions as sweet and sentimental as Debussy's or Duparc's, his music is more whimsical and often more ironic in outlook. So the unifying theme of this album seems to be the subject matter of the songs, the love lyrics en français by such fine poets as Baudelaire, Gautier, and Verlaine, and other less talented versifiers. Les Chemins d'Amour is a musical valentine to the most distinguished writers of French love poetry and chansons, and the attractive interpretations by soprano Olga Pasiecznik and pianist Ewa Poblocka emphasize the tenderness and longueur that these songs commonly express. The sound quality is good on the whole, though slightly muffled in the accompaniment.

© Blair Sanderson, All Music Guide

CD 1
Francis Poulenc Composer La courte paille (song cycle), FP178 Work 11:38 Ewa Poblocka Piano, Olga Pasiecznik Soprano
1	1.Le sommeil	2:20			$0.99
2	2.Quelle aventure!	1:06			$0.99
3	3.La reine de coeur	2:00			$0.99
4	4.Ba, be, bi, bo, bu...	0:30			$0.99
5	5.Les anges musiciens	1:52			$0.99
6	6.Le carafon	1:07			$0.99
7	7.Lune d’avril	2:43			$0.99
Achille-Claude Debussy Composer Ariettes oubliées, L.60 Work Ewa Poblocka Piano, Olga Pasiecznik Soprano
8	4.Chevaux de bois	3:04			$0.99
Achille-Claude Debussy Composer Beau soir ('Lorsque au soleil couchant les rivières sont roses'), L.6 Work Ewa Poblocka Piano, Olga Pasiecznik Soprano
9	Beau soir ('Lorsque au soleil couchant les rivières sont roses'), L.6	2:45			$0.99
Achille-Claude Debussy Composer Fleur des blés, L.7 Work Ewa Poblocka Piano, Olga Pasiecznik Soprano
10	Fleur des blés, L.7	2:08			$0.99
Achille-Claude Debussy Composer Rondel chinois ('Sur le lac bordé d'azalée'), L.17 Work Ewa Poblocka Piano, Olga Pasiecznik Soprano
11	Rondel chinois ('Sur le lac bordé d'azalée'), L.17	2:27			$0.99
Achille-Claude Debussy Composer Nuit d'étoiles, L.4 Work Ewa Poblocka Piano, Olga Pasiecznik Soprano
12	Nuit d'étoiles, L.4	3:17			$0.99
Henri Duparc Composer Extase ('Sur un lys pâle') Work Ewa Poblocka Piano, Olga Pasiecznik Soprano
13	Extase ('Sur un lys pâle')	3:34			$0.99
Henri Duparc Composer Au pays où se fait la guerre Work Ewa Poblocka Piano, Olga Pasiecznik Soprano
14	Au pays où se fait la guerre	5:02			$0.99
Henri Duparc Composer Chanson triste, Op.2, No.4 ('Dans ton coeur') Work Ewa Poblocka Piano, Olga Pasiecznik Soprano
15	Chanson triste, Op.2, No.4 ('Dans ton coeur')	3:25			$0.99
Henri Duparc Composer Soupir, Op.2, No.1 ('Ne jamais la voir') Work Ewa Poblocka Piano, Olga Pasiecznik Soprano
16	Soupir, Op.2, No.1 ('Ne jamais la voir')	3:39			$0.99
Henri Duparc Composer Le manoir de Rosamonde ('De sa dent soudaine et vorace') Work Ewa Poblocka Piano, Olga Pasiecznik Soprano
17	Le manoir de Rosamonde ('De sa dent soudaine et vorace')	2:44			$0.99
Henri Duparc Composer Elégie ('Oh! ne murmurez pas son nom!') Work Ewa Poblocka Piano, Olga Pasiecznik Soprano
18	Elégie ('Oh! ne murmurez pas son nom!')	3:20			$0.99
Henri Duparc Composer Phidylé Work Ewa Poblocka Piano, Olga Pasiecznik Soprano
19	Phidylé	4:56			$0.99
Henri Duparc Composer L'invitation au voyage ('Mon enfant, ma soeur') Work Ewa Poblocka Piano, Olga Pasiecznik Soprano
20	L'invitation au voyage ('Mon enfant, ma soeur')	4:02			$0.99
Francis Poulenc Composer Fiançailles pour rire, FP101 Work Ewa Poblocka Piano, Olga Pasiecznik Soprano
21	5.Violon ('Couple amoureux aux accents méconnus')	1:48			$0.99
Francis Poulenc Composer Métamorphoses, FP121 (song cycle) Work Ewa Poblocka Piano, Olga Pasiecznik Soprano
22	2.C’est ainsi que tu es	2:33			$0.99
Francis Poulenc Composer Dernier poème ('J'ai rêvé tellement fort de toi'), FP163 Work Ewa Poblocka Piano, Olga Pasiecznik Soprano
23	Dernier poème ('J'ai rêvé tellement fort de toi'), FP163	2:09			$0.99
Francis Poulenc Composer Les chemins de l'amour, FP 106 (from lost incidental music, Leocadia) Work Ewa Poblocka Piano, Olga Pasiecznik Soprano
24	Les chemins de l'amour, FP 106 (from lost incidental music, Leocadia)	3:46			$0.99