Parisian composer Francis Poulenc seemed incapable of writing anything
unappealing.
He was an exquisite craftsman who wrote in most genres: eminently accessible
songs,
instrumental, chamber, orchestral music and opera all generally bursting
with
melody suffused with charm and abounding in
joie de vivre.
It’s good to have this reissued collection from Globe back in the
catalogue
- a combination of both sacred and secular scores. Works such as the
oft-recorded
Stabat Mater (1950),
Gloria (1959) and the Cantata
Le bal
masqué(1932)
all featuring an orchestra and the
Litanies à la vierge noire
with
organ are not included here.
Born a Roman Catholic, the composer faced many personal struggles and his
faith
waned. It was rekindled in his mid-thirties following the horrific death in
1936
from a car accident of his friend the composer Pierre-Octave Ferroud. This
provided
him with the fervour to write a stream of sacred scores generally containing
a
darker-hued sonority of a contemplative nature.
The performers on this release are the Nederlands Kamerkoor, a
full-time, independent, professional choir based in Amsterdam. Founded in
1937 by director Felix de Nobel they were originally named the Chorus Pro
Musica. In 2012 they celebrated their 75th anniversary. Sadly in February
2013 Eric Ericson the Swedish director on this reissue died aged 94.
Poulenc’s first unaccompanied sacred choral work is the exquisite
Mass
in G major. This is one of the earliest fruits of Poulenc’s
rekindled
Roman Catholic faith. It’s a complex work for mixed choir cast in five
sections
and bears a dedication to his father’s memory who had died twenty
years
earlier. The four movement
Quatre motets pour un temps de penitence
(
Four
Lenten Motets) from 1938/39 for mixed choir are settings of liturgical
texts
used during Lent. Poulenc said that they “
are as realistic and
tragic
as an Andrea Mantegna painting.” A nice touch is that each of the
four
motets is dedicated to a friend of the composer. Here on this substantial
work
Barbara Borden is the soprano soloist. From 1948 the
Quatre petites
prières
de Saint François d’Assise (
Four small prayers of St.
Francis
of Assisi) for men’s choir was written at the request of friar
Jérome
Poulenc at the Franciscan monastery choir at Champfleury; he was a relative
of
the composer. In this four section score Poulenc blends the textures of
plainchant
and early polyphony with his own style. The
Quatre motets pour le temps
de
Noël (
Four Motets for Christmas Time) from 1951/52 are
Yuletide
motets for mixed choir and include scenes from the Nativity. For male chorus
the
Laudes de Saint Antoine de Padoue (
Praise of St. Anthony of
Padua)
from 1957/59 is a four section score composed in praise of Poulenc’s
favourite
Saint. The texts are from the Office of St. Anthony by the poet and musician
Julian
of Speyer. Completing the disc are three single-movement sacred scores:
Ave
verum corpus (1952),
Salve Regina (1941) and the
Exultate
Deo
(1941). Each work may be small in length but is certainly not deficient in
quality.
The second disc features Poulenc’s unaccompanied secular
choral music with the
Figure humaine (
The face of man) for
mixed choir probably the best known work. Poulenc lavished great care over
the wonderful choral cantata
Figure humaine a masterwork that he
completed in 1943 during the Nazi occupation of France. In eight sections
the challenging score is a setting of poems by Paul Éluard. The short
chamber cantata
Un soir de neige (
A snowy evening) for mixed
choir in four sections is a lesser known Éluard setting. It seems
that Poulenc in 1944 wrote the work swiftly taking just a couple of days.
According to the Globe notes by Mark van Dongan, Poulenc used snow as a
symbol of repression and inner resistance.
Chansons Françaises
(
French Songs) for mixed choir (1945/46) has eight sections the
fourth and sixth are for men’s choir only. These are traditional/folk
songs settings so strongly French in character and could be said to
commemorate the end of the Second World War. From 1922 the
Chanson
à boire (
Drinking Song) for men’s choir is cast in a
single section. It’s the earliest unaccompanied choral work that
Poulenc wrote. This bawdy setting to an anonymous text was written for the
Harvard Glee Club, Massachusetts and as can be understood from the title
celebrates the attractions of intoxication. In five short sections
Petites Voix (
Young Voices) for women’s choir (1936) are
settings of text by Belgium poet Madeline Ley. As described in the booklet
notes by Mark van Dongan the settings pay homage to the innocence of
children. Each section is dedicated to a particular child of Poulenc’s
friends. Also from 1936 the
Sept chansons (
Seven songs) for
mixed choir are settings of five poems of Paul Éluard and two by
Apollinaire.
The Nederlands Kamerkoor directed by Eric Ericson is in remarkable form
throughout
both the sacred and secular works. They achieve a high degree of unison
combined
with a real sense of artistry. It would be hard to better these
performances.
Clearly Ericson had prepared the choir impeccably with consistent purity of
tone
and an impressive transparency of texture displaying this music at its
finest.
In the sacred works there’s a satisfying degree of reverential
expression
and it is of such an elevated quality it feels almost mystical at times.
This
can be heard to glorious effect in the
Quatre motets pour un temps de
pénitence
(
Four Lenten Motets). Soprano Barbara Borden’s glowing lament
in
the section
Tristis est anima mea (
My soul is exceedingly sad)
feels
divinely reverential. The
Figure humaine (
The face of man) a
hymn
to freedom for Occupied France during World War Two is the standout secular
work.
I especially enjoyed the forceful expressive fervour in the opening section
De
tous les printemps du monde (
Of all the spring times of the
world)
and
the drama in
En chantant les servantes s'élancent (
As they
sing,
see the maids rushing forward) is especially notable.
Toi ma
patiente
(
Thou patient one) has a dark melancholy and
Le jour
métonne
et la nuit me fait peur (
Surprised by day and by night made
afraid)
is given a warmly sympathetic performance. The
Figure humaine is a
truly
remarkable work. I still recall a powerfully affecting performance given in
September
2009 at the Berlin Konzerthaus by the combined Latvijas Radio koris and the
Valsts
Akadēmiskais koris Latvija directed by Sigvards Kļava.
Both of these reissued discs on the Globe label have fairly warm and
well detailed sound. The balance and perspective on each disc is excellent
too. I can only describe the booklet notes as adequate; extra information
about each work would have been welcome. Globe is to be congratulated
for providing full texts with English translations. Throughout I have
used the translations as given in the booklet. The music is extremely
well served by this reissue. I would be extremely content if these were
the only recordings I had of these marvellous Poulenc works such is
their quality.
Michael Cookson
