Amazon.com video review:
This charming production delivers more and less than its title implies.
Evidently Felicity Lott's name is its strongest selling point, but her singing
is only a small part of what is offered. She sings five exquisite and sadly
unfamiliar little songs by Maurice Jaubert (1900-1940), plus Ernest Chausson's
slightly more familiar "La Chanson Perpetuelle," both expertly accompanied by a
superb little chamber ensemble. Jaubert, who died in World War II, is of special
interest; he composed some 40 movie soundtracks, but his atmospheric, neo-
romantic love songs are totally unfamiliar, at least in the United States, and
well worth knowing.
Lott is absent from most of the disc, which is taken up with two of the 19th
century's finest works for chamber orchestra: Wagner's Siegfried-Idyll,
probably the most endearing of his compositions, and the relaxed, warmly lyrical
Serenade No. 1 of Johannes Brahms. Both have been arranged for this group but
retain their attractions. This concert was taped (presumably for French
television) in the Maisons Laffitte Castle, an environment visually appropriate
for the music, and Armin Jordan conducts performances as elegant as the decor.
Some viewers may be distracted by close-up shots of him mouthing the words along
with the singer; others will find it charming. Personally, I was charmed, but I
would have been more charmed if texts and translations had been supplied.
--Joe McLellan
