An enchanting disc, fit to be set beside Anne-Marie Rodde's selection of Debussy melodies (Etcetera, 4/88), with which it overlaps only in the musically elusive Proses lyriques to words by the composer himself. Here the choice of songs is otherwise limited to those with texts by Bourget and Verlaine: they range from the very earliest in 1880 (and include the rarely-heard Musique) to the very last in 1916; and it is illuminating to see Debussy's style change from a near-salon idiom, first to half-tinted voluptuousness and finally to the spare texture of the second set of Fetes galantes. (Note, however, how the late ''Colloque sentimental'' echoes the ''En sourdine'' of 12 years earlier.)
Claudette LeBlanc has a seductive voice of great beauty, which she uses with finely judged nuance: listen to the softly floated high G sharp at ''Cela ressemble un cri doux'' in ''C'est l'extase'', and contrast it with the high B at the despairing ''je suis las...de tout'' in ''Spleen'', the passionate climax of ''De fleurs'' and the joyous colour she brings to the start of ''De soir'', with its evocation of holiday Sundays. Her enunciation is so clear as to make superfluous the printed texts (faultily proof-read in general, and missing the last few lines of ''De soir'' altogether), but she also breathes intensity of meaning into the words, as for example at ''qui ne bat que pour vous'' in ''Green''. She is enormously helped by the distinguished piano accompanying of Valerie Tryon—not merely totally at one with the voice but with the utmost refinement of keyboard colour. The recording, warm but not too reverberant, is in keeping with the high quality of these performances.'