Hughes Cuénod is, of this writing, still alive and kicking at age 102 in his native home of Vevey, Switzerland. The recordings featured on Fauré & Duparc: Mélodies were made in 1972, 1973, and 1978, and it is almost impossible to imagine that this is a singer who has achieved the advanced age of 70. There is no quaver in
Cuénod's voice that is typical of older men -- ask anyone who has endured the bride's uncle singing "Sunrise, Sunset" at a typical wedding to realize what this means. The voice is small, and on occasion drifts a bit flat, particularly in the lower registers, or in passages of music that are transitional in nature.
Cuénod's sense of phrasing and timing, however, is exactly what these songs of Gabriel Fauré and Henri Duparc require, and his approach to these chansons combine sensitivity, expression, and humility into a whole that well serves the purpose of the music.
Certain songs are performed better than others --
Cuénod's rendering of Après un rêve, for example, is fabulous, but his performance of Aurore is weak and underpowered. Some listeners will not be able to take
Cuénod's brand of singing at all, due to the hooty sound of the voice and its smallness, which is sometimes barely able to rise above
Geoffrey Parsons' thoroughly sympathetic and professional piano accompaniments. The situation is not helped by Nimbus' recording hall, which makes
Cuénod's voice sound more distant than is desirable and imbues the overall recording with a sort of "university student recital" ambience. Despite these drawbacks, Nimbus' Fauré & Duparc: Mélodies is a highly generous program of great French chansons performed by a master of the idiom, and it comes with a second booklet that contains the texts. Students of singing who are looking to learn something about this music should check in here -- it will not break the bank, and
Cuénod's delivery is authoritative. For once, one does not need to dig into ancient 78 rpm recordings in bad sound to discover the truth behind the tradition of nineteenth century French chanson.