Stuttgart-born mezzo-soprano Christina Baader has been a much sought-after musician for many years, not only as an opera singer and soloist, but is also an internationally successful visual artist. To mark the 100th anniversary of Gabriel Fauré’s death, Christina Baader and Gert Hecher, piano, are presenting an album by the title Monde et Mystère with a selection of his songs as well as those by Henri Duparc, who also played a significant role in establishing an independent French art of song. The expressive songs are based on poems by famous French poets such as Paul Verlaine, Charles Baudelaire, Armand Silvestre, Théophile Gautier, René-François Sully-Prudhomme and Jean Lahor. Together with Gert Hecher, a specialist in the restoration of historical keyboard instruments, two grand pianos from 1868 and 1879, respectively, from the famous Érard piano manufactory in Paris, which at the time had a similar status to Steinway & Sons today, were chosen to best emphasise the different tonal and stylistic elements of the works of the two composers.