Six songs by Fauré, on texts of Verlaine, open this new recital from Barbara Hendricks: from 'Clair de Lune' to 'C’est l’extase', all describe the feelings of love in a tender, cosseted atmosphere. Fauré delved again into the poetry of Verlaine to compose 'La bonne chanson', originally written for voice and piano, but then with added string quartet.

Barbara continues with the 'Trois Poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé' (a favourite poet of Ravel) the texts of which were also set to music by Debussy at more or less the same time. The voice is accompanied by a chamber music group borrowed from Schoenberg, rather like a miniature orchestra, and one affording an infinite palette of instrumental colour. Finally, the programme concludes with the 'Chansons madécasses' (Songs from Madagascar) for voice and chamber group that is a call to exoticism. The three songs in this cycle take us from heady eroticism to a virulent denunciation of colonialism; a work of commitment, as well as his finest work in the genre. For more than 40 years Barbara Hendricks has performed these French songs on the world’s leading concert platforms. From her first contact with the repertoire during a master class in Aspen in 1968, the songs of Fauré, then of Ravel, have been added to her rich soprano repertory. Accompanied by the finest Swedish instrumentalists, she presents a varied, colourful panorama of song with chamber ensemble.