Poèmes pour Mi by Messiaen

Composed for a big soprano, this cycle of 9 songs must be one of the most beautiful pieces of contemporary music written for a voice. Messiaen dedicated it to his wife Claire Delbos (who he called Mi), and the music is a refined portrait of a woman combined with his own warmth and tenderness to her. The superposition of the soprano voice with the orchestral contemporary music is truly sensational.

Please do try and listen to the whole cycle [but more than once!] and I bet you'll get hooked up too. ;)

The most frequently cited recording of  Poèmes pour Mi is the one with Pierre Boulez including a phenomenal interpretation by Françoise Pollet [last big French soprano, if you ask me!].

Very recently one of my fave singers, Anne Schwanewilms, recorded it too, and in spite of some  French mispronunciation, a sheer beauty of her voice --leaning towards dramatic yet retaining its lyric juice--  is enough for me to make that recording a permanent entry to my iPod play-list.

Now, why do I talk about Poèmes pour Mi?