Irma Kolassi

Above: Irma Kolassi

Listening to Irma Kolassi’s definitive recording of Chausson’s Poème de l’amour et de la mer set me in a nostalgic mood today, remembering my lovers of yesteryear and the ways in which so many of them have slipped out of my life. For not only is this music full of poignant regret but the voice is steeped in some forgotten perfume, so evocative and personal is her timbre.

This marvelous singer is now largely forgotten, but only to listen to a few measures of her in the Chausson draws us away from the bleakness that permeates so many aspects of life today and back to a time when romance – and its alter-ego, remorse – filled the heart and permeated the dreams of a restless spirit. 

You can read about Irma Kolassi here and listen to her voice in “Crépuscule” (‘Twilight’) from Fauré’s La Chanson d’Eve here.