Dame Sarah Connolly and Joseph Middleton have teamed up for another interesting recital album.  It’s quite varied.  It starts with Chausson’s La Poème de l’amour et de la mer which is actually two songs with a piano interlude.  It’s very fin de siècle chanson with the piano line rather more interesting than the vocal line but pretty decent stuff, if a bit emotionally overwrought.

Barber’s Three Songs Op.10 are quite well known, especially the last; “I hear an army”.  They are dark and dramatic and suit Connolly’s voice very well.  Next is the often heard Debussy piece Trois Chansons de Bilitis which purports to be settings of translations of actual Sapphic texts but which sound exactly like a 19th century Frenchman would imagine a Sapphic text to be;  i.e languorous.  Nicely done though.  Next we come to a pair of declamatory songs by Copland; “The world feels dusty” and “I’ve heard an organ talk sometimes”.  Definitely a welcome change of pace.

The final set is, for me, the most interesting.  It’s Errolyn Wallen’s 2023 work Night Thoughts which was written for the performers.  “Sleep” sets text from Macbeth in an arpeggiated, dream-like way.  “Bright Lights” sets Wallen’s own poetry in  in a sort of Caribbean inflected jazz/blues style.  The setting of Emily Dickinson’s “There’s a certain slant of light” is as weird as the text and we close on another bluesy setting of Wallen’s poetry “Night Thoughts”.  It’s a really interesting set of songs.

It’s all brilliantly sung and played of course so it’s really just about whether you fancy the choice of songs.  There’s a comprehensive booklet too.  The CD standard resolution audio I listened to was nicely balanced and natural but it’s also being released in 96kHz/24bit, as well as as a physical CD and MP3.  Release date is 12th September 2025.

Catalogue information: Chandos CHAN20285