Ranging from the early (but later revised) Verlaine settings in Fêtes galantes to the Trois Poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé of 1913, this seductive second volume of Hyperion’s Debussy song series stops off at various points in the composer’s creative life. The first thing to say is that the performances by sopranos Lorna Anderson and Lisa Milne are consistently beautiful, alert to the implications of Debussy’s word-setting, whether ecstatic or subdued, and instinctive in the use of vocal colour to summon up poetic images and emotions. Malcolm Martineau matches them in the subtlety, characterisation and refined textures of his piano-playing, creating evocative miniatures that span a varied spectrum of sensations, some firmly fixed, others more elusive but all conveyed here with fluency and underpinned with meaningful expression.

In addition to the two sets of songs at either end of Debussy’s life, there are the Proses lyriques of 1892-93 to words of his own, Chansons de Bilitis of 1895 to the sensual prose verses of Pierre Louÿs, the Verlaine settings Ariettes oubliées of 1903 and the three songs to poems by the 15th-century Charles Duc d’Orléans and 17th-century François Tristan l’Hermite in the Trois Chansons de France of 1904. Debussy’s response to his diverse range of poets is both precise and captivating, features that these performances convey with a wonderful feel for the natural contours and flow of the vocal lines, crystallising incidents or states of mind along the way but with a spontaneity that speaks of thorough immersion in Debussy’s idiom.