Godard, Benjamin - Mélodies - Christoyannis, Tassis

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Tassis Christoyannis, baritone
Jeff Cohen, piano

The mélodies of Benjamin Godard (1849-1895) are little known even by specialists of the genre. Yet Godard was prolific and most of his output came at a key moment in his evolution, around 1870. After the success of his dramatic symphony 'Le Tasse' in 1878, Godard was monopolised by the opera and composed several lyric works that overshadowed the 162 published songs, one of the most interesting parts of his catalogue.

The pieces selected here by Tassis Christoyannis and Jeff Cohen, most of them recorded for the first time, illustrate the composer's literary sensibility (Jean de La Fontaine, Théophile Gautier, Victor Hugo, Charles Baudelaire...) which he reveals in all their beauty.