L'amour, la mort, la mer

Soprano Patricia Petibon traverses love, death, and the mysteries of the sea in songs that carry us from John Lennon to Fauré, via Granados, Barber, Satie, and Jean Cras, whose beautiful "La rencontre" sets the meditative tone. Petibon shapes her voice to each of her album's many styles: a deep, burnished tone for Nicolas Bacri's "All Through Eternity"; an inward, profound sadness for Robert Baska's "Heart! We Will Forget Him." And Lennon's "Oh My Love" proves exquisite in its artlessness. The bittersweet "Danny Boy" brings us to the calm shores, alongside uilleann pipes and the sound of coastal shingle. Susan Manoff's brilliant pianism carries Petibon aloft, while David Venitucci's accordion is Petibon's traveling companion on several tracks, bringing a Breton flavor to this extraordinary musical adventure.