Felicity Lott has an excellent, well-earned reputation as an interpreter of Poulenc, so it was probably only a matter of time before she got around to recording these two splendid monodramas. She does well by both, but in La Voix humaine she faces the stiffest competition from hyper-neurotic Denise Duval’s classic account on EMI. Lott offers superb French diction, and in the opera’s desperate final moments she rises to paroxysms of despair every bit as effective as Duval’s. It’s only at such points as the description of her attempted suicide where Duval’s ambiguous lightness of touch scores over Lott’s less manipulative sincerity. With Lott there’s no question that she’s telling the truth. Duval keep us guessing. But let’s not make too much of this. Lott’s is a very fine account, made more so by Jordan’s sympathetic accompaniment and richly truthful recorded sound.
The same high performance values characterize the coupling. Lott recorded La Dame de Monte-Carlo in its piano version with Graham Johnson for Forlane, and she’s every bit as successful in the work’s orchestral guise. Arguably this role suits her better than La Voix humaine: Lott’s experience as a Strauss heroine serves her very well in creating a portrait of upper crust insanity, and the protagonist here is, after all, deadly serious. In short, the piece has never been better done. If you’re looking for a good modern recording of these two works, here it is.
