Paris 1913: L'Offrande lyrique

"This CD brings together a collection of chansons by various French composers that were all written in that same year… The centrepiece of this recital, at least according to the accompanying booklet, is the world premiere performance and recording of Louis Durey’s L’Offrande lyrique, which is a series of six brief songs inspired by the poetry of Rabindranath Tagore. According to the booklet, this Bengali poet won the Nobel prize for literature in 1913... Throughout the CD, the sounds emanating from Matthews-Owen’s piano are a joy to encounter and they have been captured in very atmospheric sound by the engineers." Mike Parr, MusicWeb International [read complete review]

"It's now 20 years since the British soprano Claire Booth burst on to the scene scaling the scariest heights in new scores by Oliver Knussen, Birtwistle and others, delivered with bright purity and passion. Over the years she has proved equally powerful with composers of other stripes, expressing the music's drama as fiercely as the notes themselves. But she has also been compelling in intimate recitals, and the present album with the expressive pianist Andrew Matthews-Owen finds her exploring songs composed, as the title suggests, in and around Paris in the tremulous year of 1913. That was when Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring had its noisy Paris premiere. The First World War was around the corner. It was also the year of Ravel and Debussy's piquant settings of Mallarmé's elusive poems, of late autumn fruits by Saint-Saëns and Fauré, and quasi-atonal settings of Rabindranath Tagore from the larely forgotten Louis Durey, L'Offrande lyrique (the lyrical offering). Booth's own offering is always lyrical and crystal-clear, even when Mallarmé makes her sing about raspberry laughter, bearded lapdogs and the tawny agony of leaves. And if music and verse threaten to become overly refined, up pops something from pranksters like Georges Auric or Satie, or a little charm bracelet by Cécile Chaminade. Whatever the mood and whatever the composer, Booth and Matthews-Owen always leave the listener pleasantly rewarded and refreshed." ★★★★ Geoff Brown, The Times

"...The works by the lesser-known figures make as strong an impression as those by the marquee names, with all of them collectively attesting to the creative fertility of the era and 1913 in particular; that it includes world première recordings enhance its value too. It's ultimately the spectacular performances by Booth and Matthews-Owen that truly make the recording the standout that it is, however." Textura

"The soprano Claire Booth and the pianist Andrew Matthews-Owen, two musicians of a high artistic level, have brought together in this recording a collection of songs for voice and piano by different authors who lived the year 1913, as a year of grace... The fact is that that year was like the dawn of a new golden age. This anthology is a testimony to the strength of the French melodies of the time. Paris 1913: L'Offrande Lyrique (Paris 1913: The Lyrical Offering) is a very emotional musical recreation by Booth —with a dark voice rich in nuances— and Matthews-Owen —in a careful and neat execution— that stands out for its sober handling of texts, within a musical page of great lyricism." Marçal Borotau Sonograma Magazine 

"There is much to fascinate even those who consider themselves afficionados of the ‘chanson’, and those who are unfamiliar with much of this repertoire could not have a better means of acquainting themselves with certain of its treasures – hidden or otherwise." Richard Whitehouse, Arcana