Arranged loosely as a landscape, the repertoire is often impressive and imaginative, avoiding monotonous chunks and flowing between topics and textures, including France’s recurring fascination with the ‘Orient ’...Gens and the Munich Radio Orchestra under Hervé Niquet are strong throughout, with generally thoughtful interpretations and excellent recorded sound quality.

Her soprano is in remarkably good shape, supple and elegant, her diction exemplary and her phrasing exquisite, deftly capturing the mood of each song.

As Paysage demonstrates compellingly, the most persuasive examples of the form succeed because they create, within minutes, a complex dramatic narrative whose brevity only heightens their intensity...Gens is, as you would expect, an ideal conveyor of this, with the Munich orchestra offering exceptional, subtle support.