Poulenc
La Dame de Monte Carlo (FP 180)
Cocardes (FP 16)
Durey
Prière (from Chansons Basques)
Honegger
Locutions (from Six poésies de Jean Cocteau)
Delage
Sobre las olas
Chaslin
Valse langoureuse (from Chansons pour Elle)
Milhaud
Caramel Mou
Sacré
Que ne suis-je un de cette Egypte (from Clair-Obscur)
Auric
Hommage à Erik Satie (from Huit Poèmes de Jean Cocteau)
Poulenc
La Voix Humaine (FP 171)
Bach
Prelude in B minor/Visite (extract, from Discours du grand sommeil, arr. Siloti, Jean Cocteau)
Claire Booth (soprano)
Christopher Glynn (piano)
Recorded at Champs Hill, West Sussex in January 2026
Reviewed by: Rob Pennock
Reviewed: July 2026
CD No: Orchid Classics: CD, download and stream: ORC100460
Duration: 75.34
The programme notes aptly describe this album as ‘A musical portrait of Jean Cocteau and the composers drawn to his restless imagination, from the Parisian avant-garde to Poulenc’s La Voix Humaine’. Inevitably, given Cocteau’s admiration for him, the recital is dominated by Francois Poulenc. It opens with a seven minute ageing, lonely gamblers love song to her beloved Monte Carlo, before she kills herself. Whose sombre tone contains an element of cabaret sprechgesang., which is far more in evidence in the three short, light-hearted songs of Cocardes. His tragédie lyrique, La Voix Humaine (1959) was written for his favourite singing, actress Denise Duval (Warner) and orchestra. Charting a telephone conversation between a jilted lover and her ex, prior to her suicide, its language is far more disjointed, discordant and acerbic.
The rest of the songs vary between Dupre’s and Chasin’s more conventional Gallic tinged art songs, through Delage’s chanteuse like setting. to Milhaud’s riotous Caramel Mou. All are beautifully composed and eminently listenable to. The final track is Booth speaking Cocteau’s words to Bach.
Performance wise, the main work La Voix Humaine is best known in its orchestral version, but Booth and Glynn are more expressive than Sides and Rybin (VOCES8 Records) and just as good as Lott and Johnson (Champs Hill DVD). Both artists brilliantly capture the mood of the other songs. The only slight criticism would be that a few more pps and ppps wouldn’t have gone amiss.
The programme notes are copious and contain Glynn’s English translations. The sound on the 24/96 download is vibrant, with depth, a realistic sense of space between the artists and a tightly controlled bass. Booth’s voice would have been even more analogue like in higher resolution, but she is still there in front of you.