Dis Quand Reviendras Tu? - first track, AND all the others
Emily Sands | 10/27/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
""Tell Me When You Will Come Back"
I first heard this piece sung by Jean-Louis Aubert (formerly performed by life-long friend of Jacques Brel, Monique Andrée Serf, known as "Barbara") at the end of the stunning film "I've Loved You So Long." The lyrics, vocals and accompaniment, were so beautifully moving that I played the song over and over to be able to put the lyrics to paper, which I then emailed to my husband as a "farewell" before his extended trip to Paris. When he returned, he presented me with Aubert's CD, Premieres Prises. To my delight, every song included the same magic trio of elements.
On a recent short road-trip, we played Aubert's CD on the way to our destination and Jacques Brel's classic CD, Quinze Ans d'Amour, on the way back (this collection being sacrosanct to our 30-year marital lore). My husband (a native Parisian) said he enjoyed Aubert "almost as much as Brel." In my mind, NO ONE compares to Brel. Premieres Prises by Aubert is, however, definitely among my top favorite CDs. I listened to some of the track previews of Aubert's other CDs on Amazon.com and found them to be very different from those on Premieres Prises.
Aside: an unrelated note of coincidence for the romantics among us: I watched another film last night, The Painted Veil, the first movie I've seen since watching I've Loved You So Long, and BOTH movies contained the same hauntingly lovely song: "Au Claire Fontaine," another *oldie* from my husband's youth, containing the lyrics "Il y a longtemps que je t'aime/I've Loved You So Long." [...]"
