I listen to about as much art song as I do opera and could have filled every day of April with favorite selections.

This performance of Poulenc‘s “Les Chemins de l’amour” is a gem.

A very haunting Hugo Wolf song sung exquisitely here by Arleen Auger.

I had heard the renowned Dutch soprano on recordings and was an admirer of hers. I was unprepared, however, for such a truly memorable evening.

Thanks to Elly Ameling, I made it through college.

What a shaded and elegant delivery William Mattteuzzi brings to this lilting setting of D’Annunzio‘s “O falce di luna calante”!

Does this count as an art song?

I have always loved this recording of Canteloube‘s Chants d’Auvergne sung by Dawn Upshaw and conducted by Kent Nagano.

Jessye Norman really embraces elements of the song falling somewhere between classical art song and popular ballad.

Janet Baker sings Elgar‘s Sea Pictures with such honesty and clarity and fervor.

It’s not where you start but where you Finnish

Wolfgang Holzmair‘s performance was amazing in its personal and intimate approach.

William Parker‘s career launch coincided with the closet door fully opening for American male classical vocalists; the cruel irony is that Will was also an early AIDS casualty, gone in 1993 at 49.

This song has always been one of my favorites.

The song recitals I remember most vividly were, unsurprisingly, the most vivid ones.

The staggeringly great Ukraine-born Jewish bass Mark Reizen sings “The Ebullient Kura Swirls” a/k/a “The Persian Love Song” by Moldova-born Jewish composer Anton Rubinstein.

Frida Leider is a major Wagnerian soprano who does not sound like a Wagnerian soprano.