Susan Narucki made her professional debut at the 1986 Ojai Festival in the West Coast premiere of Gy�rgy Kurt�g�s Messages of the Late R.V. Troussova with members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic led by conductor Kent Nagano.

Since that time, she has made over sixty recordings of music of the 20th and 21st century for labels including SONY Classical, Angel/EMI, Bridge, Nonesuch, New World, Aaeon, Philips, and many others.

Her recordings have earned critical acclaim, including a Grammy Award, two Grammy Nominations for Best Classical Vocal Recording and a 2017 Latin Grammy Nomination for the opera Cuatro Corridos and several European awards for recordings of vocal chamber music and of opera.

Following on from Susan�s most recent recording, 2019�s The Edge of Silence: Vocal Chamber Music of Gy�rgy Kurt�g, her brand new recording is This Island (out February 10th, 2023, via AVIE Records), a specially curated, unique set of 21 art songs written in the first half of the 20th century, chiefly by women and some receiving their world premiere recordings.

Indeed, the catalyst for This Island was a line from a collection of letters by Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke:

�� If you could only be here with me so I could share with you the happiness of these great poems, they would let you realize what we all now need more urgently: that transience is not separation ��

The poems Rilke cites are by Belgian Symbolist Emile Verhaeren, whose poetry � Susan discovered � has been set to music by composers both familiar and virtually unknown, including Nadia Boulanger and her Paris Conservatoire teacher Raoul Pugno, Belgian Ir�ne Fuerison, Dutch Henriette Bosmans and the mysterious Parisian composer Elizabeth Claisse.

Susan rounds out the album with songs by American composer and educator Marion Bauer, who studied in Paris and met Boulanger and Pugno, and Dutch composer Henriette Bosmans whose music Susan was familiar with, bringing the project full circle.

HENRI�TTE BOSMANS (1895�1952)
1. Dit eiland (1947) (Adriaan Roland Holst) (2.20)
2. In den regen (1947) (Adriaan Roland Holst) (5.35)
3. Teeken den hemel in het zand der zee (1947) (J.W.F. Werumeus Buning) (3.41)

�LISABETH CLAISSE* (fl. 1922�23)
4 M�lodies (1922�23) � Paul Le Flem
4. Issue (Yves Arnaud) (2.07)
5. Complainte (Pierre de Ronsard) (2.06)
6. Philosophie (Franz Toussaint, after Kheng-Tsin) (1.38)
7. Les Mendiants (�mile Verhaeren) (4.10)

IR�NE FUERISON* (1875�1931)
Les Heures claires, Les Heures d�apr�s-midi, Les Heures du soir Op.50 (1918) (�mile Verhaeren)
8. I. Les Heures claires I: �� la splendeur de notre joie� (3.52)
9. II. Les Heures claires XX: �Dis-moi, ma simple et ma tranquille amie� (3.40)
10. III. Les Heures d�apr�s-midi XXVII: �Ardeur des sens� (3.52)
11. IV. Les Heures d�apr�s-midi XXIX: �Vous m�avez dit� (2.47)
12. V. Les Heures du soir XXI: �Avec mes vieilles mains� (3.00)
13. VI. Les Heures du soir XXVI: �Lorsque tu fermeras mes yeux� (3.07)

NADIA BOULANGER (1887�1979); RAOUL PUGNO from Les Heures claires (1909)
(�mile Verhaeren)
14. I. Le ciel en nuit s�est d�pli� (3.05)
15. III. Vous m�avez dit� (2.01)
16. IV. Que tes yeux clairs, tes yeux d��t� (2.06)
17. VI. Ta bont� (3.59)

MARION BAUER* (1882�1955)
Four Poems Op. 16 (1924)
(John Gould Fletcher)
18. I. Through the upland meadows (4.34)
19. II. I love the night (2.38)
20. III. Midsummer Dreams (3.31)
21. IV. In the bosom of the desert (5.24)

*World-premiere recordings

This simply shimmeringly magical, heartfelt and abundantly organic new recording opens on a trio from ENRI�TTE BOSMANS, the first being the sterner fare of Dit eiland, the light timbre of In den regen, rounding out on the stoically-cultured Teeken den hemel in het zand der zee, and then we are brought forth four m�lodies by �LISABETH CLAISSE; the first being the earnest Issue, the quietly flowing Complainte, then the flinty Philosophie, closing on the ascetic Les Mendiants.

Along next is a sextet from IR�NE FUERISON, of which first up is the sweepingly elegant Les Heures claires I: �� la splendeur de notre joie� and then the refined Les Heures claires XX: �Dis-moi, ma simple et ma tranquille amie,� before we get the roundly polished Les Heures d�apr�s-midi XXVII: �Ardeur des sens,� the stately Les Heures d�apr�s-midi XXIX: �Vous m�avez dit,� the gracefully ornate Les Heures du soir XXI: �Avec mes vieilles mains,� the set closing on the sculptured genteel of Les Heures du soir XXVI: �Lorsque tu fermeras mes yeux.�

Then comes a quartet from NADIA BOULANGER, which open on the sophisticated mannerisms within Le ciel en nuit s�est d�pli�, the organically-heartfelt Vous m�avez dit�, then we get the delicate Que tes yeux clairs, tes yeux d��t�, the fashionable for the time work Ta bont� rounding that all out, a quartet of Poem�s by MARION BAUER bringing the recording to a close; the impassioned Through the upland meadows, the quietly embolden I love the night, forthright, yet dulcetly cored Midsummer Dreams, and then finally we are brought forth the sumptuous In the bosom of the desert.

Susan Narucki, soprano
Donald Berman, piano

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