Graham Johnson is simply the greatest living authority on French song - an artist whose innate feeling for the music is combined with prodigious scholarship. He also has the ability to discover and nurture singers who here prove to be matchless performers of this repertoire.

Following his many wonderful recordings in Hyperion’s French Song Edition, Johnson turns to the complete songs of Francis Poulenc, released also to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the composer’s death. Each of the four CDs presents a programme of songs in an order that is chronological for that disc alone - signifying four different journeys through the composer’s career.

Disc 1 features a substantial appearance, recorded in 1977, of Pierre Bernac (Poulenc’s long-term collaborator), narrating L’histoire de Babar, a story known to children throughout the world.

The singers include Dame Felicity Lott, acclaimed as one of the foremost performers of Poulenc, and many other stars from previous recordings.

Contents:
CD 1 Métamorphoses
- Trois poèmes de Louise Lalanne, FP57
- Quatre chansons pour enfants, FP75
- Trois poèmes de Louise de Vilmorin, FP91
- Le portrait, FP92
- Fiançailles pour rire, FP101
- L’histoire de Babar, le petit éléphant (Pierre Bernac, narrator)
- Métamorphoses, FP121
- Nuage: no.2 of Deux mélodies, FP162
- La courte paille, FP178

CD 2 Main dominée par le coeur
- Cinq poèmes de Paul Éluard, FP77
- Tel jour telle nuit, FP86
- Miroirs brûlants, FP98
- Ce doux petit visage, FP99
- Les chemins de l’amour, FP106
- Deux poèmes de Louis Aragon, FP122
- Le disparu, FP134
- Main dominée par le coeur, FP135
- … mais mourir, FP137
- Calligrammes, FP140
- La fraîcheur et le feu, FP147
- Le travail du peintre, FP161
- Dernier poème, FP163
- Une chanson de porcelaine, FP169

CD 3 Parisiana
- Toréador, FP11
- Le bestiaire, ou Cortège d’Orphée, FP15a
- Deux mélodies inédites du bestiaire, FP15b
- Cocardes, FP16
- Airs chantés, FP46
- Quatre poèmes de Guillaume Apollinaire, FP58
- Pierrot, FP66
- Deux poèmes de Guillaume Apollinaire, FP94
- La Grenouillère, FP96
- Bleuet, FP102
- Banalités, FP107
- Colloque, FP108
- Deux mélodies de Guillaume Apollinaire, FP127
- Deux mélodies sur des poèmes de Guillaume Apollinaire, FP131
- Paul et Virginie, FP132
- Parisiana, FP157
- Rosemonde, FP158
- La souris: no.1 of Deux mélodies, FP162
- La puce
- La dame de Monte-Carlo, FP180

CD 4 Fancy
- Poèmes de Ronsard, FP38
- Chansons gaillardes, FP42
- Vocalise, FP44
- Épitaphe, FP55
- Cinq poèmes de Max Jacob, FP59
- Huit chansons polonaises, FP69
- À sa guitare, FP79
- Priez pour paix, FP95
- Chansons villageoises, FP117
- Trois chansons de F García Lorca, FP136
- Hymne, FP144
- Mazurka, FP145
- Fancy, FP174