Luciano Pavarotti

Operatic rule | CBW05

Peaceful, serene, soothing … this is how this week’s honourable mention makes me feel when listening to it: “L’heure excuse” by Reynaldo Hahn, a Venezuelan composer and a prodigy child (he entered the Paris Conservatoire when he was ten years old), best known for his songs. Naturally, when it comes to a voice composition, you need a great voice to portray the beauty of the song, and Susan Graham does this superbly.

Read more
diStefano Tosca

An eclectic mix | CBW03

The honourable mention of the week goes to “Dirait-On”, a song from the cycle “Les Chansons des Roses” by the American composer Morten Lauridsen. This is a setting of poems by Rainer Maria Rilke, an Austrian poet who, besides being one of the most lyrical German-language poets, also wrote over 400 poems directly in French.… Read more