MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Canteloube: Chants d'Auvergne (with Villa-Lobos's Bachianas brasileiras Aria and Dansa)

"Te Kanawa's richly sensuous approach to these delightful songs is very seductive, especially when the accompaniments by Jeffrey Tate and the ECO are so warmly supportive and the sound so opulent. Her account of the most famous number, 'Baïlèro', must be the most relaxed on record, yet she sustains its repetitions with a sensuous, gentle beauty of line, supported by lovely wind playing from the orchestra which seems to float in the air. There's a resonance given to the sound, which means that certain of the brighter, more obviously folksy numbers, lose a little of their rustic sharpness. However, the overall effect is very appealing, particularly when her voice (recorded in the early 1980s) is so young and fresh.
As an encore we are offered the Villa-Lobos Bachianas brasileiras No 5, an 'Aria' for soprano and cellos. The result is ravishing, almost decadent at its softly intoned reprise. An enticing disc." Gramophone