Although the instrumental and orchestral music of the Franco-German Romantic Théodore Gouvy (1819–98) is slowly being rediscovered, his songs remain largely unknown.

Gouvy’s melodious songs, 105 in number, show a predilection for the 16th-century love-poems of Pierre de Ronsard: 40 of the songs set Ronsard texts. Only eleven of the 26 songs on this CD have been recorded before, and none in the key the composer intended. The other 15 songs are first-ever recordings.

MeeAe Cecilia Nam, soprano, has developed a reputation as a scholar of rare French song-literature and has given lecture recitals of Gouvy’s songs in various universities. She holds degrees from University of Colorado at Boulder and Sookmyung University, Seoul, and is now Professor of Voice at Eastern Michigan University.

John Elwes began his musical career at Westminster Cathedral in London where he was Head Chorister. His vocal education was furthered by the eminent harpsichordist George Malcolm, the then Director of Music. Under the name of John Hahessy he had considerable success as a boy soprano - Benjamin Britten dedicated his Corpus Christi Carol to him. John’s extensive repertoire ranges from Monteverdi, Rameau, Bach and Handel to Mozart, Schubert, Schumann, Mahler and Britten.

Joel Schoenhals is Professor of Piano at Eastern Michigan University and Guest Professor of Piano at Nanchang University in Nanchang, Jiangxi, People’s Republic of China.