Album: Renee Fleming, Poèmes (Decca)

Renée Fleming claims that singing in French suits her voice naturally, which is clear on this album of poetic settings by Ravel, Messiaen and Dutilleux.

Her involvement with the intoxications of Ravel's Shéhérazade is obvious, the journey into this "forest filled with mystery" navigated with an enchantment little short of thrilling. Messiaen's Poèmes Pour Mi proves

the perfect partner for Shéhérazade, extending the air of erotic fantasy in "Act of Grace" and the descriptive richness in the "blue jewel" lake of "Landscape", before she enters the more brooding territory of Dutilleux's specially commissioned Le Temps L'Horloge, in which the burdens of time and character weigh more heavily.

DOWNLOAD THIS Shéhérazade; Le Temps L'Horloge