Label: Challenge Classics
Format: CD
Barcode: 0608917200249
Catalog number: CC 720024
Releasedate: 16-01-26
Format: CD
Barcode: 0608917200249
Releasedate: 16-01-26
- This album celebrates the evolution of women’s identity and strength, inspired by Simone de Beauvoir’s ideas and Charlotte Haesen’s modern artistic perspective.
- A journey through 14 songs spanning nearly a century — from Trenet and Brassens to contemporary voices beautifully arranged for voice and string quartet
- The title and concept draw from Baudelaire’s Les Fleurs du Mal and Andersen’s The Ugly Duckling, symbolizing transformation, beauty, and self-acceptance.
- Another interesting collaboration between Café des Chansons with Haesen’s distinctive vocals and arrangements by leading Dutch composers and arrangers such as Wijnand van Klaveren, Morris Kliphuis, and Camiel Jansen.
- Third album of Café des Chansons featuring Charlotte Haesen on Challenge Classics
- A journey through 14 songs spanning nearly a century — from Trenet and Brassens to contemporary voices beautifully arranged for voice and string quartet
- The title and concept draw from Baudelaire’s Les Fleurs du Mal and Andersen’s The Ugly Duckling, symbolizing transformation, beauty, and self-acceptance.
- Another interesting collaboration between Café des Chansons with Haesen’s distinctive vocals and arrangements by leading Dutch composers and arrangers such as Wijnand van Klaveren, Morris Kliphuis, and Camiel Jansen.
- Third album of Café des Chansons featuring Charlotte Haesen on Challenge Classics
La Blancheur des Cygnes is a poetic and reflective musical project that celebrates feminine energy, beauty, and strength through the timeless art of the French chanson. Historian Els Kloek’s liner notes frame the album as a continuation of the conversation started by Simone de Beauvoir — exploring how women have evolved from “the other” to agents of their own expression. Through Haesen’s evocative voice and the refined strings of the Café des Chansons quartet, the album traverses nearly a century of song — from Charles Trenet’s joyful optimism to modern interpretations by artists like Zaho de Sagazan and Solann — weaving themes of love, self-acceptance, vulnerability, and empowerment.
At the heart of this collection lies a reclamation of beauty as a feminine right: no longer dictated by the male gaze but redefined as a source of power and authenticity. The title, La Blancheur des Cygnes (“The Whiteness of Swans”), alludes both to Baudelaire’s poem La Beauté and to Andersen’s tale of The Ugly Duckling, reflecting transformation, grace, and the freedom to be seen. Through these fourteen chansons, Charlotte Haesen and her ensemble offer a moving counterpoint to the enduring dominance of masculine energy — proposing empathy, love, and artistic sensitivity as the true instruments of balance in our modern world
At the heart of this collection lies a reclamation of beauty as a feminine right: no longer dictated by the male gaze but redefined as a source of power and authenticity. The title, La Blancheur des Cygnes (“The Whiteness of Swans”), alludes both to Baudelaire’s poem La Beauté and to Andersen’s tale of The Ugly Duckling, reflecting transformation, grace, and the freedom to be seen. Through these fourteen chansons, Charlotte Haesen and her ensemble offer a moving counterpoint to the enduring dominance of masculine energy — proposing empathy, love, and artistic sensitivity as the true instruments of balance in our modern world
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1Y'a d’la joie02:16
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2Hier encore02:52
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3Rome03:00
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4Mon enfance04:55
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5C’est chic les longs pantalons01:43
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6La symphonie des éclairs03:43
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7Où est l’amour03:30
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8Je suis comme je suis02:55
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9Ta douleur03:37
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10Je vieillis03:05
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11Paroles, paroles04:52
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12Les amoureux des bancs publics04:05
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13La Beauté03:58