An ingenious piece of programme-planning. These four groups of songs all date from the same period (1932 to 1943) and share a refusal to take the world at face value. Whether it is Jedermann on his journey of the soul, Don Quixote's fabulous ideals, or the surrealism of Poulenc's ''profane cantata'', each investigates the border between reality and what lies beyond—a challenge of many subtleties for Jose van Dam.
In the case of Martin's Sechs Monologe aus ''Jedermann'' his main rivals at present are Fischer-Dieskau's famous DG recording and a more recent one from Gilles Cachemaille on Erato. All three performances are appreciably slower than the timings Martin provides in his score, although those may refer specifically to the piano-accompanied version. In fact, van Dam is the slowest of all, but in other respects he follows a middle path, more dramatic than Cachemaille, less racked by tension than Fischer-Dieskau. For those who find the latter's heightened levels of expression too much, van Dam's sure-footed way through these awe-inspiring songs will be moving enough. Otherwise, it is Fischer-Dieskau, spanning intense anguish and an eventual inner peace, who takes Jedermann on the most far-reaching journey of experience.
The two sets of Don Quixote songs have long been van Dam favourites. In each of his previous recordings of the Ravel he has caught as well as anybody the quiet dignity of the music, most tellingly perhaps with piano on EMI's complete set of the Ravel songs (9/87—nla), but there is much to enjoy here, too. The equivalent group by Ibert also intended for Pabst's Don Quixote film, is no less deeply-felt, though there is some lack of sparkle. Kent Nagano does not get the Spanish rhythms to dance as Ibert himself did, when he recorded the songs with Chaliapin (last available on EMI, 8/90 nla).
For sheer fun the performance of Poulenc's outrageously entertaining Le bal masque makes ample amends. Thomas Allen on CRD is the main rival here, offering a suave vocal appeal and a twinkle in the eye that van Dam does not quite match, although he certainly has energy in plenty. In this score the Lyon Opera Orchestra, who made a fine showing in the three previous items gives way to a lively octet of soloists, drawn from the orchestra's own ranks. The balance is exemplary throughout. Altogether, these are four sturdy, idiomatic performances, but it is the coupling that makes this disc so very enticing.'