Louis Beydts: Mélodies & Songs in Bloomington, MN

The aged
Fauré
and
Reynaldo Hahn
took the French Romantic mélodie into the 20th century, and
Louis Beydts
, who studied with
Hahn
, took it even further; three of the song cycles here date from after World War II.
Beydts
was mostly known as a composer of film music, and the songs on this release by tenor
Cyrille Dubois
and pianist
Tristan Raës
are all but unknown; three of the cycles receive their world premieres here. The music may seem to evoke a vanished world, but it is often engaging.
distills the
style down to essences, and most of the songs are quite short. The texts are by a variety of French poets of the day, and physical album buyers will get good translations in the hefty booklet. The
Cinq Humoresques
are sharp little character studies, and in many of the songs, there is a measure of wit (sample "Mademoiselle Rose"). The songs often take the conversational tone of
's songs and dial it down several notches.
Dubois
has a nicely controlled tone in very quiet material (which describes many of the songs), letting the vibrato drain from his voice but not going flat. Hear "Adonis" for a good example of his comfort with the musical language. The
Chansons pour les oiseaux
are delightful and could easily be programmed with other works about animals. These are subtle little pieces, but they are immensely appealing, and it is no surprise that the album made classical best-seller charts in the spring of 2024. ~ James Manheim