Here’s something of a tour de force–an 80-minute encore program of 32 songs in 16 languages ranging from the usual singers’ foursome of French, German, Italian, and English to Czech, Danish, and Finnish and including dialects such as Auvergne, French-Canadian, and Brazilian. Many of the selections are folk songs or art song arrangements of folk material. A basic mandate for singers approaching such repertoire is: “if you don’t fully believe in it, don’t sing it.” Gérard Souzay believes in these songs and it comes through. The Swedish love song, “Om dagen vid mitt arbete”, is heart-tugging in its lovely vocalism and sincerity, attributes shared by the following track’s selection, Grieg’s patriotic “Til Norge”, sung in Norwegian. This singer, noted for his elegance, is even convincing as a Venetian gondolier in “La barcheta”, as an Irish swain in “She moved thru’ the fair”, and an American wanderer in “I’m goin’ away”, for which he darkens his voice into the bass range.
The first 24 selections were recorded in 1958 and 1959, and while Souzay never was noted for tonal opulence, the voice is firm and colorful. The rest of the disc is drawn from sessions between 1977 and 1979 when Souzay was 60, and these are more effortful, the voice is drier and less flexible, especially noticeable in slower items like Massenet’s “Elégie”, Caplet’s “Forét”, and Liszt’s “O, quand je dors”, where you wish the expert phrasing and emotional warmth were allied to the voice of an earlier period. Dalton Baldwin’s accompaniments are first rate and the sonics are fine. No texts, but adequate summaries are given for each song.
