Meanwhile, on Warner Classics, Philippe Jaroussky easily secures his status as the most enterprising of today's countertenors, with a new double album Green, bringing together settings of the poetry of Paul Verlaine.
How could one resist a project that has the personable Jaroussky confessing to secret passions and pleading, "Why should a countertenor not have the necessary sensitivity and vocal technique to perform French melodies?"
He does, in heaps, as he did in 2009's Opium album, exploring the same territory with pianist Jerome Ducros.
Even sceptics must swoon at this man's elegant phrasing and silken tone singing familiar settings by Faure, Hahn and Debussy -- his poised, almost skittish Mandoline being just one instance of his very special partnership with Ducros.
The 43 songs offer different composers interpreting the same Verlaine poems. While Benoit Duteurtre's eight-page booklet essay offers valuable guidance, there is an adventure to be had independently navigating four different takes on Il pleure dans mon coeur by Faure, Debussy, Florent Schmitt and Charles Koechlin.
Jaroussky coaxes estimable colleagues along into the studio, from contralto Nathalie Stutzmann, duetting in Massenet, to the hip Quatuor Ebene, equally at home with Bruce Springsteen as Shostakovich.
Their dozen collaborations include zesty numbers by chansonniers Leo Ferre and George Brassens, spreading the same joie de vivre as Anne Sofie von Otter's Grammy-winning Douce France. Taste the final Brassens track and you'll want the whole set.
Verdict: French countertenor proves that a memorable album starts with a strong concept
The 5 Countertenors (Decca):
Philippe Jaroussky (Warner Classics):
