The most Romantic and endearing of all French composers of La Belle Epoch, Reynaldo Hahn was not French at all. Born in Caracas to a Venezuelan mother and a German father he moved to Paris at an early age and soon became the darling of the salons. His most famous song, If my verses had wings – recorded many times by artists from Dame Nellie Melba to Joan Sutherland – was written when he was 13.

This two-CD set is the most representative recording of Hahn's songs ever made. It includes the complete Etudes Latines and Rondels (both with choir) as well as many of his most familiar songs. It also includes a number of songs never recorded before now.



DIAPASON D'OR ; GRAMOPHONE CRITICS' CHOICE

'This gorgeous set ... Irresistible' (The Sunday Times)

'What treasures are here … The two discs provide an unmissable opportunity to explore a composer who is underrated and overlooked perhaps because he was too modest about himself. There are melodies here which Massenet, Debussy, Fauré and Ravel would have been proud to call their own. No one can fail to have their musical horizon broadened by these discs, which will assuredly come high among my Records of the Year, any year' (The Sunday Telegraph)

'These discs have given me as much pleasure as any I have heard this year ... to hear Felicity Lott in 'Les Etoiles', Susan Bickley in 'Offrande' and Ian Bostridge in 'Tyndaris' is to relish some of the most accomplished vocal artistry of the day' (The Sunday Telegraph)

'Ces chanteurs brittaniques interpretent ces petits bijoux avec soin touchant. Par la qualité du phrasé, ils lui restituent sa qualité essentielle, le sens du mot et de la ligne mélodique' (Répertoire, France)

'Graham Johnson choisir ses chanteurs qui possedent une musicalité irréprochable et un français non seulement intelligible mais évocateur - et de les accompanger avec tant de poésie' (Diapason, France)

'Some fascinating rarities' (Gramophone)

'To wonderful songs ... [the artists] bring delicacy, grace, an emotion the more poignant for being understated ... Not to be missed' (The Observer)

'This is music for the intellect, interpreted with the utmost sensitivity' (Hi-Fi News)

'For the best song-singing I've heard in many moons this is the one' (Fi, USA)

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Recording details: December 1995; Rosslyn Hill Unitarian Chapel, Hampstead, London, United Kingdom; Produced by Mark Brown & Arthur Johnson; Engineered by Antony Howell & Julian Millard; Release date: June 1996;