Gerard Souzay sings Duparc (vaimusic.com) 

Gerard Souzay is a master of French melodie from the Fin de siècle. His interpretation of this repertoire is perhaps unrivaled. I can understand why someone might not find his voice to be beautiful if that someone dislikes velvety, lyric, French baritones with impeccable phrasing and evenness of tone.

He enjoyed the best kind of fame within his fan base and among serious critics. He didn't have to deal with press agents, publicists, etc. He was an artist to his fingertips. He occupies a very special and elite place among those who are the real "cognoscenti". His earliest recordings are vocally flawless and his interpretative skills remained on target for his whole life. He was one of a kind and only a few of us really are aware of it.

One of the many great things about this wonderful artist is that you can understand every word. When he sang, he savored both the text as well as the music, and that allowed his listeners to do likewise. Souzay once said, "I can only offer my emotions when I sing".

I discovered this marvelous singer over 50 years ago, and I have loved his singing ever since! His voice and his beautiful singing are one whole to me!

I have enjoyed Souzay's singing for 25 years since I was 20. Still remember the first encounter with it...what a beautiful voice

No one sings melodie better than Souzay. I heard three measures of his singing - by accident - and went crazy.

Historians agree that, by the time Souzay got to the high note at the end of the piece, all the women in the audience were pregnant.

I heard this artist singing in concerts in Berkeley and San Francisco in the early 1960s. Exquisite singing and interpretations! Varied content of concerts, too. A more mature voice than on his early recordings. his singing introduced me to the music of Duparc, which I still perform.

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It was medicine to my heart to come across this performance from my beloved teacher that I miss so much.What artistry, passion and musicality he possessed! Thank you for posting this video.

I heard Mr. Souzay sing three measures on an Amazon sample and flipped. He has one of the most beautiful baritone voices I've ever heard, and I love baritones, so I've heard a lot! He is stylish and elegant, and in my opinion, OWNS the French art song rep. When I'm singing French I always look first to his recordings for the impeccable diction and expression.

In love with music all over again...

The harp accompaniment at the beginning makes it feel like a dream. Souzay’s version tops all others that’s for sure.

Gorgeous voice, great artist, and equally effective in German and Italian song literature. One of the greats!

This is gorgeous - what a polished, refined and expressive artist this singer was!

Marvellous. Souzay was my introduction to Duparc and I've never heard anyone sing it better.

it is like a dream!

Beautiful singing ! Thank you so much :)

So beautiful and calming. Thank you very much for posting.

Utterly exquisite. No words for this, really....

Gerard Souzay's vocal and interpretative gifts are out of reach for those whose love of voice is restricted to opera. Souzay's venue was the recital stage, where he illuminated the songs of Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Faure, Ravel, Debussy, etc. His was a lyric baritone ---- NOT an operatic baritone "con belto". He painted vocal music with a fine brush and shaded words and phrases with a refinement completely unknown today. This is vocal artistry par excellence.

I like him. His interpretations are flawless.

Exquisite ! The subtle tone , yet full support ! Truly a master , bravo !!

He is much more tenorial here than when he is older

Souzay is a master of the art song, especially the French ones!

Prachtig!

Quelle voix splendide et quelle maitrise! que du bonheur!

oh my god!!! I am in heaven!!!

Dietrich Fischer Dieskau also specialized in art song, but he had a huge fan base.

An intimate and beautiful rendition. Souzay, completely at home in this field. Does not appear to have a heck of a big or robust sound but it don't matter. A true lyric baritone. Classy.

Les américains adorent faire des experts... Mais Même sans eux il est beau ! Merci AV

Souzay is incomparable in the small but precious genre of French art song. Ned Rorem said that when you hear Souzay "the whole land of France somehow fans out, just as all of America is echoed in those last discs of Billie Holiday... listen how [Souzay's] voice swerves in and out of the shade like the tinted edges of a Rouault pastel fading imperceptibly from midnight blue to cobalt to azure. His sound gives off an exhausted hint of nasal sadness."

Gérard Souzay has always been my very favorite singer, ever since I first discovered him back in the Sixties; and here, as usual he is a marvelous interpreter of the melodie française. But I think that the orchestral arrangement in this recording is far less beautiful than Duparc's original piano accompaniment.

I must echoe bud21s's comments. This is truly an example of musical perfection.

@fatherman73 I don't love him on everything, and I won't say every choice made at the time was perfectly researched for every period he sang. BUT he was one of the best interpreters of French melodie. A repertoire that doesn't get it's due anymore. This is truly beautiful.

Our voices are so similar - same “French baritone” very difficult to cast! His repertoire, the same as my own! Wasn’t able to really pursue my career due to life circumstances, but I feel our voices are kindred!

You really ought to listen to his collection of Faure' and Duparc. They are unique. I realize many people don't like Faure' either. But those of us who do find it rapturous, restrained, refined, perfumed. Quintessentially French. But.....vive la difference in taste!

His "lover," American Dalton Baldwin, was at the piano. And what a splendid pianistic partner he was too.

best version i can find. all the others are so off-tempo...this one even is but it's still followable

@goldenthroat86 Absolute and utter dribble. I have never met a professional singer who has said a word bad about Gerard Souzay's voice. He is generally accepted to be the greatest french baritone, and certainly the greatest interpreter of French songs. There is simply no challenge to that. He sang very little opera and he is younger here so he has a more tenorial sound than in his later work. Still he has a perfectly structured voice in all registers and unmatched messo di voce control.

@Aalanone As soon as some people hear a big name in music, they turn off their hearing. Some of the finest performances I've heard in my life were from singers I'd never heard of. But if you don't have the ear, you only admire those who you have been told they are "great artists."

@raphaelhudson Judging from your channel, I'd say that you have excellent taste in singers. I just don't care for Souzay. Very few people do. In my humble opinion there are enough fine art song singers out there to listen to someone who has beautiful voice, sound technique AND artistry. For my ear, Souzay has none of those things. If beauty is in the eye of the beholder, it is also in the ear of the listener.

Goldenthroat (what modesty!, by the way), you should be so lucky as to have Souzay's talent.

@goldenthroat86 I'm not sure why you take issue with this -- it's a very good performance!

@goldenthroat86 It often happens that the truly great interpretaive artists do not have a "great" instrument. The prime example of this is Maria Callas. In this repertoire Souzay holds the palm. His "l'invitation au voyage" has never been surpassed.

@goldenthroat86 So you recommend us Hvorostovsky and Ms Norman. Norman had a big sound and was a wonderful singer of a limited field of repertoire but she was also inclined to be woofy and diffuse. She is often drowned out by an orchestra when "smaller" voices singing at the same time cut right through. Hvorostovsky has vocally decayed far before his time, he is often woofy and insecure in the top, although he remains the best living interpreter of the Russian baritone repertoire.

My response was for goldenthroat86

He was a Baryton-Martin?

@goldenthroat86 I suspect that you don't like him because he is the perfect example of a lyric baritone. It has reached the stage in America where those who do not sound like a bass baritone and don't use dark modifications on all their high notes are tenors. But if you listen to the baritones that verdi was writing for they sound nothing like that! Accordingly the reason why most of Verdi's dynamic markings are ignored by modern baritones. Why don't post a video of yourself for comment?

@goldenthroat86 De gustibus non disputandum est! It's a good job that we all have differing perceptions of great interpretation, otherwise the recording companies would go bankrupt. I also greatly admire Schwarzkopf in the repertoire she made her own, and her instrument was definitely NOT mediocre (neither is Souzay's). Perhaps you just don't like the repertoire?

curiously hes a baritone yet in this recording hes singing it for high voice, though sublimely.

Impresionante barítono y gran artista . Esta canción, no obstante, la prefiero en la versión pianística.

RU-vid is a good indicator of how many people "care" for a certain performer. Try comparing the number of videos and views by Wunderlich and Pavarotti to those of Souzay. Pavarotti: 62,600 videos (Hundreds of videos with more than 1 million views) Wunderlich: 2,200 videos (Dozens and dozens with hundreds of thousands of views) Souzay: 471 videos (Only ONE has over 50,000 views) CD sales of each singer shows the same proportion of numbers. Souzay has a SMALL fan base.

I'm afraid I disagree. I find Norman little more than a huge instrument that is sometimes gorgeous but frequently overdone, oversung, uninteresting in interpretation. Souzay's instrument is, yes, imperfect, but still very special, listen how effortlessly he moves to the highest registers with perfect vibrato --- stunning.

@Rockykratter Beauty is also in the ear of the listener. I agree with the vast majority of people who listen to classical singers that DON"T like Souzay's voice. We are tired of those with less than exceptional instruments or technique automatically being labeled "musical" and "artistic". To me, he is average in those areas. A singer having a beautiful, technically solid voice does not preclude him from being "musical" or an "artist." Listen to Hvorostovsky sing the same stuff.

And Danielle Steele sells millions more than Byron or Whitman. I guess those poor old dead poets have a "small fan base."

@lorifredrics Italianate in technique?!? That is so obviously and completely wrong that I must assume that you are lying or completely without a clue.

Fine. You don't like him. Drop it already. Neither of us will ever convince the other.

Gérard Souzay est merveilleux, comme d'habitude; mais l'accompagnement orchestral est affreux. Dans ce répertoire, le piano vaut beaucoup mieux.

you'd be hard pressed to find an interpretation better than this.

@goldenthroat86 your argument loses all credibility when you bring schwarzkopf into it. "musical".... "artist".... even if she wasn't those (and she WAS), she had technique that put the vast majority of her peers to shame and pretty much everyone singing today to shame. seeing your comment it is obvious you just like to disagree and that is coming from someone who tends to do the same....but with CREDIBILITY

@raphaelhudson My opinion of Souzay's voice and "artistry" are not unique. Those who think Souzay is wonderful are definitely in the minority. He has a VERY small fan base. True, he is regarded as the greatest French baritone, but that's not saying much. There aren't any other French baritones of note. Having the greatest number of recordings of French art song doesn't make him the best interpreter of them. I think the youtube video of you singing Erlkonig says it all. Don't quit your day job!

@adorientem I LOVE the repertoire. It's Souzay's and Schwarzkopf's VOICES that I don't like. Elizabeth was always singing the wrong repertoire for her small voice. In addition, her career was helped considerably by her connections (She married Walter Legge, a major exec.) with the record companies. It didn't hurt that she was also very beautiful. She has a big fan base, but almost none of them singers themselves. Souzay fans are VERY hard to find. He is NOT well respected by pros today.

Jessye Norman has great intelligence and artistry. She also has a great instrument. Souzay doesn't exactly have a large fan base....and for good reason. Souzay is one of those singers that we're "supposed" to like because they're so "artistic." I'm sorry, but I hear neither great voice or great artistry in Souzay. I hear a VERY average instrument...by professional standards...and overly precious, but certainly not artistic singing. Callas had a great but flawed voice, but SHE was an artist!

Always using gimmicks to cover up for technical shortcomings does not make one musical.

@adorientem Maria Callas is my favorite singer. She had a "great" but flawed instrument. Still the greatest musical intelligence in all of opera. IMO, Souzay, and others like him (Schwarzkopf, for example) are quite different cases. They both had VERY mediocre instruments. As singers, we're told that we're "supposed to like them" because they're great "artists". I don't hear the "artistry". With Terfel, however, I hear great artistry. Same with Norman. I'll take them anyday!

I have been singing classical music professionally for almost 30 yrs. Never have I met even one fellow professional singer who admired the likes of Schwarzkopf and Souzay. NOT ONE! Just because someone tells you that these singers are "artistic" doesn't make it true. Listen with your ears...Don't be made deaf by a famous name. My opinion about these two is not exactly in the minority, by the way.

To answer golden throat! All voices have their individual greatness. I've heard Norman sing 2 entire recitals a FULL quarter note FLAT! Terrible. I've heard many singers and have come to this conclusion. Some are right for this repertory some for that. Even my favorites aren't perfect at everything but some technical things are true...pitch comes first and foremost second is technique ! A singer who is flat or wobbly is NOT singing!!! I don't care how FAMOUS they are. In the instrumental world you are judged on HOW you play , especially technically and your musicianship! Any other opinions are INVALID! You can make all the exceptions you want, they are unfair and subjective!!! Just because a voice is BIG does not make it GOOD!

It's always been fashionable among so-called experts to say that Souzay was soooo "musical" and such an "artist". He had a relatively minor career for the fame he garnered. His voice was small and unattractive. He had faulty technique that didn't allow him to express himself very musically. A truly mediocre instrument.