‘Chimera: an illusory, unsatisfied quest, the graveyard of our illusions...’

With Chimère, Sandrine Piau invites us on a voyage into the intimate and infinite territory of dreams. She and her long standing partner, the pianist Susan Manoff, have thought up a programme combining the German lied (Hugo Wolf, one of Schumann’s Mignon songs, a scene from Goethe’s Faust by Carl Loewe), Mélodies by Debussy and Poulenc (his Banalités), and Art Songs by Barber along with discoveries of more rarely heard composers like Ivor Gurney and the Dickinson Songs of André Previn – the celebrated American conductor is less well-known for his compositions, which include this magnificent cycle written for Renée Fleming.

Equally at home in French, German and English, Sandrine Piau is at the peak of her artistry. -----

REVIEW:

Piau's is a voice that can bloom sensuously at the top, and which she controls exquisitely. Her purely gorgeous accounts of Wolf's Verschwiegene Liebe and Gurney's Sleep are simply breathtaking. The three Schumann songs leaves one longing for more. This is one of the most fascinating, satisfying and moving recital discs to have come this reviewer's way for some time. It's beautifully recorded too.

– Gramophone