Poulenc: Quatre Cycles De Melodies

(Gerard Souzay, baritone, Dalton Baldwin, piano; Philips PHS-900148). Souzay brings more sheer voice to these songs than most of Poulenc’s interpreters usually muster; he also performs two seldom heard cycles of Paul Eluard poems, “Le travail du peintre” and “La fraicheur et lefeu” — the former consisting of musical vignettes of Picasso, Chagall, Braque, and other artists. The other cycles are “Chansons villageoises” and “Calligrammes.”