Francis Poulenc's songs are among the most beautiful and accomplished in the entire French repertoire. A friend of poets like Apollinaire, Eluard, Aragon and Louise de Vilmorin, he was constantly alert to their imaginative worlds and their mystery. The voluptuous or nostalgic nonchalance, the gentle melancholy or the impertinent flippancy of these works never appear to take themselves seriously, and invariably represent the highest art. On this recording, the renowned Belgian soprano Sophie Karthauser returns to harmonia mundi for her first recital program, performing a generous selection of Poulenc's Melodies.