Superb Music Susanna Phillips sings Debussy, Messiaen and Fauré - heard by GEORGE BALCOMBE '... Fauré knew how to make music live ...'

The American soprano Susanna Phillips has prepared a series of songs by Debussy, Messiaen and Fauré, accompanied by pianist Myra Huang. This is an excellent revival for a concert platform where the two performers' distinctive types of music are bound together as voice and piano.

In addition to the singer and pianist, other contributors have important roles which create the performance -- the composers and poets. There is, in this case, Claude Debussy (1862-1918) and his superb Ariettes Oubliées ('Forgotten Songs'), but also the necessary poet, Paul Verlaine (1844-1896), who spent part of the 1870s in England teaching French, Latin and Greek...

CLAUDE DEBUSSY

OLIVIER MESSIAEN

GABRIEL FAURE

BRIDGE RECORDS INC