The rediscovery of music by female composers came a bit later to France than it did to Britain or the U.S., but the new label is changing that with a series of generous releases illustrated by nifty drawings of the composers. The label does a real service here with this double-album revival of vocal music by (songs, plus a fascinating set for narrator and piano), who lived from 1865 to 1941. It is hard to understand the neglect of her music, which was praised by and programmed by in its own time. In these songs, it is a bit hard to hear the " " (" ") promised by the album's subtitle; perhaps that is still to come in the label's series, but did expand upon her models -- , with some and -- in striking ways. Perhaps the best-known work so far is the uniquely dramatic and programmatic cello sonata called , presumably still to come from . However, the songs here are hefty in their ambition and reach, sounding in no way derivative of anybody else. offers her own set of ' lesbian that could easily be programmed with 's . The second disc in the set is devoted mostly to settings of and other poets; the two cycles, written in 1891 and 1894, would have been received as entirely contemporary in their time. Most interesting of all is the set of narrations, titled ; they have Symbolist texts by the little-known , who was also a composer, and the relationship between text and music is fluid. The performances are by major artists, including the soprano and baritone , which bodes well for the future of a series that has started promisingly indeed. ~ James Manheim