New. Cocteau's Music
Claire Booth (soprano), Christopher Glynn (piano)
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 26th June 2026
Booth's remarkable capabilities as a singing actress allow her to encompass the multiple personas, verbal dexterity and moments of emotional nakedness that characterise Cocteau's poetry, as...
New. Cocteau's Music
Claire Booth (soprano), Christopher Glynn (piano)
Purchase product
Awards:
-
Presto Recording of the Week, 26th June 2026
Booth's remarkable capabilities as a singing actress allow her to encompass the multiple personas, verbal dexterity and moments of emotional nakedness that characterise Cocteau's poetry, as...
About
Jean Cocteau was many things: poet, playwright, artist, filmmaker, collaborator, self-inventor - each description fits, but none is sufficient. His work darts and pivots, one mask slipping as another appears. But beneath the surface, the same fixations recur, especially love, death, dependence and abandonment. This album stays close to his restlessness, touching melodrama, popular culture, prayer, aphorism, dance, cabaret and theatre, as styles collide, and the masks occasionally fall. At the centre of the program stands La Voix Humaine, Cocteau's searing study of love, loss and fractured communication, alongside a sequence of songs by Poulenc, Milhaud, Honegger, Auric and others reflecting Cocteau's wide artistic circle, where high art and popular culture meet without hierarchy. The result is not a comprehensive survey, but rather a carefully drawn portrait, shaped by affection and curiosity.
Contents and tracklist
Spotlight on this release
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Presto Presents... Claire Booth and Christopher Glynn
9th Jul 2026
The soprano and pianist take us behind the scenes of their new album Cocteau's Music, out now on Orchid Classics and featuring Poulenc's La voix humaine alongside songs by Maurice Delage, Darius Milhaud, Georges Auric and others.
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Cocteau's Music from Claire Booth and Christopher Glynn
26th Jun 2026
The British soprano and pianist explore the extraordinary legacy of French poet, playwright and filmmaker Jean Cocteau, including songs by Milhaud, Honegger and Auric, and culminating in a visceral account of Poulenc's La Voix humaine.
Awards and reviews
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Presto Recording of the Week26th June 2026
August 2026
Booth's remarkable capabilities as a singing actress allow her to encompass the multiple personas, verbal dexterity and moments of emotional nakedness that characterise Cocteau's poetry, as well as the stylistic range and shifting moods of the music it inspired...A superb achievement. Do listen to it.
26th June 2026
Hearing La Voix humaine shorn of its symphonic clothing pays huge dividends, especially when the rapport between the performers is as tangible as it is here. In Glynn’s hands you barely miss the orchestral colours, whilst the freshness of Booth’s light, bright soprano reminds us that Cocteau conceived Elle as a young woman rather than a grande dame.
