This collection shows Debussy’s musical style developing towards the enchanting gracefulness for which he became known. The songs are remarkable for their sheer number and for their sensual sophistication. Outstanding performances.

Gillian Keith has firmly established herself as one of the leading young singers in Britain since winning the prestigious Kathleen Ferrier Award in 2000.  Born and raised in Canada, she studied in Montreal, Toronto, and at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where she now lives.  Her teachers have included Ian Partridge and Barbara Bonney.  She has performed with such distinguished conductors as Nicholas McGegan, Stephen Layton, Yuli Turovsky, Richard Armstrong, Raymond Leppard and Sir John Eliot Gardiner, with whom she made one of the first recordings of Handel’s Gloria for Philips in 2001. In 2002 she made her debut with English National Opera in Deborah Warner’s staging of Bach’s St John Passion, and with Scottish Opera singing the role of Woodbird in Wagner’s Siegfried at the Edinburgh Festival, both of which were filmed for BBC Television.  This disc of Debussy songs reflects her love of the recital genre and her special affinity with the French repertoire.

Debussy – Early Songs (DXL 1052) Digital Booklet

Track List:

Poèmes de Paul Verlaine
1. Pantomime
2. Clair de lune
3. Mandoline
4. En sourdine
5. Fantoches

Poèmes de Paul Bourget
6. Les cloches
7. Voice que le printemps
8. Romance L’âme évaporée
9. Romance Silence ineffable
10. Paysage sentimental
11. Romance d’Ariel
12. Regret
13. Musique

Poème de Théodore Gautier
14. Coquetterie Posthume

Poèmes de Théodore de Banville
15. Nuit d’étoiles
16. Zephyr
17. Aimons-nous et dormons
18. Il dort encore
19. Le Lilas
20. Les Roses
21. Rêverie
22. Souhait
23. Sérénade
24. Fête galante
25. Pierrot

Poème de Stéphane Mallarmé
26. Apparition