Sandrine Piau’s first recital for the ALPHA Label, with Susan Manoff (Chimères – Alpha 397), proved an enormous hit (Diapason d’Or of the year, Choc of the year, and Gramophone Editor’s Choice). Her new project is a recital with orchestra celebrating French song of the period when it moved from the private salon to the concert hall. Planned in partnership with the Palazzetto Bru Zane, this programme evokes anticipation, desire, pleasure, memory, in short, all the vagaries of love experienced by a romantic heroine… To verses of the poets Hugo, Lamartine, Gautier, and Verlaine, Sandrine Piau has selected song settings by Saint-Saëns (L’attente, Papillons), Massenet (Extase, Aimons-nous), and Vierne, as well as by the rarely-heard Dubois, Guilmant, and Bordes…

Julien Chauvin and his period instrument ensemble combine these songs with orchestral pieces (the Pavane de la belle au bois dormant from Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite, and Debussy’s Danse profane for harp and orchestra).

The disc also presents excerpts from Nuits d’Été by Berlioz, and ends with the famous classic Plaisir d’amour by Martini.