This third instalment in our series encompassing all Fauré’s songs takes its title from the famous Silvestre setting Chanson d’amour and guides the listener on a journey through the panoply of human emotion. Alongside finely chiselled miniatures we have the early cycle Poème d’un jour (to poetry by Grandmougin), the suite from the Shakespeare/Haraucourt drama Shylock (which includes some notable rarities in the form of two-piano arrangements made with Fauré’s blessing by the composer Léon Boëllmann), and what is surely the apotheosis of the mélodie genre: La bonne chanson.

As with preceding volumes, Graham Johnson has employed a range of artists—the very finest interpreters of French song that could be found. Generous commentaries are provided for each song along with the original poems and English translations.