Métier Records Announces Second Album of “New French Song”

These new songs showcase the best of female and non-binary composers for the voice, setting female French poets from the past eight centuries, whose poems Alison Smart Fisher selected to cover the wider French-speaking world.

In August 2005, Métier issued an album containing settings of French poetry by 20 composers of high stature including Michael Finnissy, Edward Cowie, Gabriel Jackson and Nicola LeFanu (full details below), performed by soprano Alison Smart and pianist Katharine Durran.  Now after a break in performing to pursue other musical ventures, Alison (now Smart Fisher) has returned with aplomb both to the concert platform and the recording studio.  Alison and Kate premiered their new collection New French Song Vol. 2 in Moffat in the summer of 2024 followed by a successful London recital and the studio recording is now being prepared for full CD and digital release in the first quarter of 2025.  The new collection features works by female and non-binary composers of major stature and will be a worthy addition to the vocal repertoire.

Alison Smart Fisher is a singing teacher and vocal coach based in London, also directing several choirs.  Alison has a great desire to channel the composer’s art into an audible and beautiful experience for the performers and audience. She studied Classics at Clare College, Cambridge and worked as a book and music editor while developing her singing career. She took Postgraduate Performance Diplomas at RNCM and TCM.  Alison was on the staff of BBC Singers as first soprano for many years and travelled widely for concerts, recordings and educational outreach events. She also sang many oratorio concerts. Her song recitals with Katharine Durran (piano) having included many British works of the 20^th century (Peripheral Visions, Métier MSV 92025) and she continues to create new repertoire for the voice.  Alison and Katharine jointly commissioned New French Song (Métier MSV 92100), working with twenty of Britain’s leading composers, resulting in the creation of a whole new song recital repertoire for the 21st century. Sainte by Tarik O’Regan won the British Song Award for 2004.  Alison then, in 2024, commissioned performed and recorded with Katharine Durran their New French Song, Vol. 2.  These new songs showcase the best of female and non-binary composers for the voice, setting female French poets from the past eight centuries, whose poems Alison selected to cover the wider French-speaking world.

Katharine Durran is a solo pianist, chamber musician, song accompanist, recording artist and educator.  She read Music at the University of Cambridge, before studying at the Royal College of Music where her teachers included Kendall Taylor and Geoffrey Parsons.  Katharine’s debut solo album was a much-praised recording of the complete Toccatas of J.S. Bach (Métier MSVCD 2001), and for ten years she was pianist of the award-winning and pioneering ensemble Tapestry.  Tracks from her CD recordings are frequently featured on BBC Radio 3 and she has performed new works for solo piano and for ensemble live on radio and television, as well as discussing the rôle of song accompanist in today’s musical society.  Katharine also conducts choirs, teaches singing and runs choral singing groups for all ages. She is the founder director of Moffat Children’s Choir, for whom she has recently devised, designed and directed the world premières of Peter Cowdrey’s two mini-operas The Death of Hook (2019) and The Horse and the Greyhound (2024), and is also musical director of the Balliol Singers, Dumfries and Galloway’s specialist a cappella chamber choir.

Album Details

• Title:  New French Song, Vol. Two
• Label:  Métier
• Catalogue number: MEX 92110
• Performers :
  • Alison Smart Fisher (soprano)
  • Katharine Durran (piano)
• Works :
  • Comète (Helen Neeves)
  • Calendrier (Shirley J. Thompson)
  • Les Yeux (Cecilia McDowall)
  • Les Amoureux (Emily Hall)
  • Vou, et Moi (Joanna Forbes l’Estrange)
  • Demain, commençera le bruit (Millicent B. Jones)
  • N’écris pas (Lesley-Jane Rogers)
  • Seulette Suis (Kerry Andrew)
  • Les arbres me parient, dit Idir (Deirdre Gribbin)
  • J’aime (Gráinne Mulvey)
  • Au Chat (Nicola LeFanu)
  • Je Vis, je Meurs (Daryl Runswick)
• Recorded on 10th October 2024, at St John the Evangelist, Oxford.
• Engineer: David Lefeber

Volume One