David Cozy wrote:

>Will the songs (Songs of the Auvergne) quiet in me, "the way stars
>dissolve in the dawn"?

Yes, if you have spent a summer in pastoral south central France
with a loved one, and then lost her/him.  It helps too to be French
(non-Parisian), and speak a little Occitan (plus a bit of "it's a gift
to be simple, it's a gift to be free . . .")

For years the only recorded version available of some of the songs was the
1930 Madeline Grey, with Elie Cohen conducting a studio orchestra.  After
the war, Netania Davrath was the first to record the songs anew, and since
then there have been a few others.  I have always been partial to the Grey
despite the antique sound (Davrath is a tad earthy, if you prefer your
peasant girls that way.) I suggest at least hearing the Grey before making
a decision.

The more pensive of the songs sung by Grey reminded one noted critic at the
time of Wordsworth's "old, unhappy, far-off things and battles long ago."
Indeed, if you want to know somewhat of the soul of southern France before
the Albigensian Crusade destroyed the entire culture in the region, these
songs may offer a faint glimpse.

John Dalmas
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