Les Roses d’Ispahan (Gabriel Fauré/Leconte de Lisle) (1884)
The vast array of amazing art songs could fill years of “songs-of-the day”… the French chansons have a special place in my heart. In particular, j’adore the music of Gabriel Fauré. It is sumptuous but transparent at the same time – the harmonic change in the “B” section (“O Leila…”) gets me every time… harmony completely “one” with melody and lyric. There’s a formality in the poetry and the music at the core of the song, but it is wrapped in fragrance and a subtle sensuous exoticism – the air is scented with its perfume…
Elly Ameling
This week our SoTD curator is composer Susan Botti who will host and curate the second installment of NYFOS Next 2016 on Febuary 11th alongside fellow Manhattan School of Music faculty member, Richard Danielpour. Botti is the recipient of numerous awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the Rome Prize. Orchestral commissions include works for the Cleveland Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, and The Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. In addition to performing her own vocal works, she specializes in the vocal performance of contemporary music by a diverse range of composers. Thank you, Susan!
Read other posts by Susan Botti.
This is one of my all time favorite songs sung by my long time favorite singer of art songs, whom I used to manage for masterclasses. I even named my beautiful, white Turkish Angora cat “Leila”