Francis Poulenc: Stabat Mater; Les Biches (2013)

The two works on this album present diametrically opposed sides of Francis Poulenc's musical personality and career. Les biches (it means "the does," in case you were wondering) is a joyous, somewhat raucous ballet of Poulenc's youth, an answer to Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring that touches on jazz, neoclassicism (specifically neo-Baroque styles), French popular music, and more in a consistently surprising mixture that includes an offstage choir. The Stabat Mater, composed after a friend's death in 1950, came after Poulenc ... Read More

The two works on this album present diametrically opposed sides of Francis Poulenc's musical personality and career. Les biches (it means "the does," in case you were wondering) is a joyous, somewhat raucous ballet of Poulenc's youth, an answer to Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring that touches on jazz, neoclassicism (specifically neo-Baroque styles), French popular music, and more in a consistently surprising mixture that includes an offstage choir. The Stabat Mater, composed after a friend's death in 1950, came after Poulenc's reconversion to Catholicism, and it is typical of the radiant, melodic, tonally oriented style of his later years. Conductor Stéphane Denève is emerging as a major conductor of French repertory, and he does a superb job here with the diverse styles of these two works. Les biches crackles with slightly illicit erotic energy. The limpid melodies of the Stabat Mater, as is so often the case with Poulenc, conceal parts that require really top-notch choral singing, and the combined... Read Less

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2013, Hänssler Classic UPC: 4010276025795 CD See All

2013, Hänssler Classic UPC: 400000055053 CD See All