The discerning collector of French melodies will know to avoid most of the recordings made by Gerard Souzay after about 1970. By then the singer was in his fifties and the deterioration in the voice was marked, leaving him oscillating between a rough, but still vital forte and an unsupported, breathy piano. This disc brings together the 12 Duparc songs which he recorded for EMI in 1971 and a group of Chausson from 1977 which have not been released in the UK before.
The effortful singing in the Duparc affords limited pleasure, although one notes with approval that Souzay still gets to grips with the texts, especially the biting force of Le manoir de Rosemonde. Whatever other problems there may be, he never allowed the French song repertoire to drift aimlessly along. The Chausson displays more problems with intonation and once again the singer is up against the formidable competition of his younger self. For the Duparc, what we really need is a reissue of one of Souzay's recordings from his prime, either the Decca (10/53) or the Philips (1/64), the latter also with Baldwin. Among available recordings, the Hyperion and REM issues comprise all the extant Duparc songs; the best recommendation for the standard dozen that Souzay sings here is probably Bernard Kruysen, recently reissued by Auvidis Valois ((CD) V4703). For the selection of Chausson songs there is an obvious alternative in Decca's reissue of the Souzay from the 1950s (12/55)—wonderful singing, a heavenly voice. That also has texts and translations, which are not included here.'