Quatre motets pour un temps de pénitence
Messe en Sol majeur
Un soir de neige
Figure Humaine.
The death of his friend Pierre-Octave Ferroud profoundly affected Poulenc
and he sought solace in his long dormant Catholic faith. This religious
reawakening inspired a period of creativity which resulted in the two sacred
masterpieces on this recording - Messe en Sol Majeur (1937)
and Quatre motets pour un temps de pénitence (1938-39) - in
addition to many smaller works.
The Messe is strictly speaking a missa brevis because the Credo is
omitted. It is dedicated to the memory of Poulenc's father who had died several
years previously. Here, as in the Quatre motets, one is struck by the cool
purity of the choral writing. The complex lines of the Kyrie give way to
the Gloria with its richly textured second section and the slightly comical
uncharacteristic leaps of the third section at 'qui tollis'. But it is the
lovely bright Sanctus opening in a fashion not unlike that of Fauré
and proceeding to a contrasting reverential 'Hosanna'; and the beautiful
'Bendictus' that linger most in the memory. The Quatre motets are equally
beautiful, affectingly so in the opening of the Vinea mea electa. Quatre
motets pour un temps de pénitence concerns the Passion of the
Crucifixion.
Poulenc's well-known musical style is apparent in these works - i.e. elements
of French Renaissance; of jazz and the popular harmonies of the 1920s and
30s (although these are muted); and of religious and spiritual ecstasy.
The German occupation of France during the Second World War deeply affected
Poulenc and his music. The choral cantata Figure Humaine composed
in 1943, during this period, is an intense and moving testimony to the senseless
cruelty of war. Un soir de neige (1944) is on a smaller scale yet it echoes
many of the ideas of Figure Humaine. I listened to these two works
as the sun set on a December afternoon after lighting the countryside in
that sort of liquid light that beautifies so many winter days. I thought
it very appropriate to the cool crystal-like beauty of the music of these
two works.
Grex Vocalis (The Singing Flock) is a Norwegian Choir who have distinguished
themselves by winning major competitions all over Europe. Their glorious
singing has been recorded most sensitively in Uranienborg Church so that
the spatial and dynamic elements and the ppp passages so important
for the music to breath and make its maximum impact, are fully realised.
This is especially the case in the opening Quatre motets.
Reviewer
Ian Lace
Grex
Vocalis Directed by Carl Høgset
