The other day I got to knew a for me altogether new and hauting piece! "A Chloris" by Reynaldo Hahn from 1913. Do you know it?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNXX_8xonoE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pqz25T-8IwU
Are there other works by him one should know?
All his vocal works are beautiful - L'Heure exquise, Si mes vers avaient des ailes to name only two. His Piano Concerto is imho a masterpiece. The Violin Concerto is another hidden beauty. The Operetta Ciboulette is charming - Singable melodies and haunting chorus lines. Also try his cheeky Piano Sonatina.
I'm more familiar with his solo piano output, which I've never been disappointed by.
Reynaldo Hahn (he was one of Marcel Proust's lovers and a longtime friend, who inspired various passages of his novel "A la recherche du temps perdu") had a beautiful voice. He used to accompany himself at the piano.
His complete 78rpm recording have been re-issued on 3 CDs by the label Romophone.
http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=50991&album_group=14
In the same album you can also hear him explaining the instruments of the orchestra.
Hyperion issued in 1996 an excellent 2CD album with his songs.
3 CDs of the complete melodies by Hahn will release in Autumn 2019, interpreted by Tassis Christoyannis and Jeff Cohen : an excellent way to discover these beautiful pieces, composed between 1887 and 1918.
Also among the next releases of Hahn's works, the musical comedy Ô mon bel inconnu (libretto by Sacha Guitry) will be recorded in September, for a future release in CD.
For me, I think that the best part of his work remain his operas and operettas. Le marchand de Venise, after Shakespeare and created in 1935, is the best example of Hahn's style. Unfortunately, only a cut version exists on recording...!
Notice that a biography (in French) written by Philippe Blay, his prominent specialist, will be published in 2020.
The Palazetto Bru Zane is also planning to program and record 2 of Hahn's stage works, next season :
L'Ile du Rêve, and a concert version of La Carmélite in Toulouse.
Complete and decent recordings of his delightful Malvina and Brummel, would be most welcome, but we'll still have to wait.