This collection of French choral pieces may be designated an amûse-bouche , or chef's-choice hors d'oeuvre, but it makes a superb if light meal in itself, prepared by the English ensemble I Fagiolini ("The Little Beans"). You might be suspicious on grounds of previous early music specialists who have functioned well in only the most severe sort of 20th century music, but dig in! The centerpiece here is a world recorded premiere from the always delicious Jean Françaix (1912-1997), Ode à la Gastronomie. This sets (and often ...
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This collection of French choral pieces may be designated an amûse-bouche , or chef's-choice hors d'oeuvre, but it makes a superb if light meal in itself, prepared by the English ensemble I Fagiolini ("The Little Beans"). You might be suspicious on grounds of previous early music specialists who have functioned well in only the most severe sort of 20th century music, but dig in! The centerpiece here is a world recorded premiere from the always delicious Jean Françaix (1912-1997), Ode à la Gastronomie. This sets (and often comically distorts and parodies) passages from an early (1825) classic of food writing, Brillat-Savarin's La physiologie du goût . Including a fart joke later on, the work begins with the words "Adam, and you dear Eve, who led us to perdition for an apple, what would you have done for a turkey?" Françaix's platter pokes fun not only at French attitudes toward food but even a bit toward his own neoclassic style itself. The rest of the music is sensuous rather than funny,...
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