A wonderful 5CD collection of Concertos, Orchestral & Choral works by Poulenc.

Francis Poulenc (January 7, 1899 - January 30, 1963) was a French composer and a member of the French Group Les Six. He composed music in all major genres, including art song, chamber music, oratorio, opera, ballet music and orchestral music. Critic Claude Rostand, in a July 1950 Paris-Presse article, described Poulenc as "half bad boy, half monk" ("le moine et le voyou"), a tag that was to be attached to his name throughout his career.

Francis Poulenc was born in Paris. His mother, an amateur pianist, taught him to play, and music formed an important part of family life. An outstanding pianist, the keyboard dominated much of his early compositions. He also, throughout his career, borrowed from his own compositions as well as those of Mozart and Saint-Saëns. Later in his life, the loss of some close friends, coupled with a pilrimage to the Black Madonna of Rocamadour, led him to the rediscovery of his faith and resulted in compositions of a more sombre, austere tone. His opera, Dialogues of the Carmelites was written at this time.

Poulenc was a member of Les Six, a group of young French composers, Milhaud, Auric, Durey, Honegger and Tailleferre, who also had links with Erik Satie and Jean Cocteau. He embraced the Dada movement's techniques.

Poulenc died of heart failure in Paris 1963.

CD 1

Piano Concerto, FP 146
Concerto for Two Pianos, FP 61
Organ Concerto, FP 93

CD 2

Sinfonietta, FP 141
Concert champêtre, FP 49
Pièce brève sur le nom d’Albert Roussel, FP 50
Bucolique, FP 160
Fanfare, FP 25
Deux Marches et un intermède, FP 88
Suite française, FP 80

CD 3

Les Biches, FP 36 – Suite
Les Animaux modèles, FP 111 – Suite
Matelote provençale, FP 153
Pastourelle, FP 45
Valse, FP 17
Discours du general; La Baigneuse de Trouville, FP23 (Nos.3 & 4 from ‘Les Mariés de la Tour Eiffel’) Aubade, FP 51
Concerto chorégraphique pour piano et dix-huit instruments
Deux Préludes posthumes et une Gnossienne, FP 104

CD 4

Le Bal masqué – Cantate profane, FP 60
Le Bestiaire ou Cortège d’Orphée, FP 15a
Rapsodie nègre, FP 3
Cocardes, FP 16
Trois Mouvements perpétuels, FP 14

Le Gendarme incompris, FP 20
(Comédie-bouffe – saynète mêlée de chants pour pensionnats)
François Le Roux Monsieur Médor, commissaire
Dominique Visse La Marquise de Montonson
Lambert Wilson La Pénultième, gendarme

Quatre Poèmes de Max Jacob, FP 22

CD 5

Gloria, FP 177
Litanies à la Vierge noire, FP 82
Stabat Mater, FP 148

Françoise Pollet soprano (Gloria, Stabat Mater)
François Le Roux baritone (Le Bal masqué, Le Bestiaire, Rapsodie nègre, Cocardes, Le Gendarme incompris, Quatre Poèmes de Max Jacob)
Dominique Visse countertenor (Le Gendarme incompris)
Lambert Wilson (Le Gendarme incompris)

Chœur de Radio France (Gloria, Stabat Mater)
François Polgár director
Maîtrise de Radio France (Litanies à la Vierge noire)
Denis Dupays director

Pascal Rogé piano (Piano Concerto, Concerto for Two Pianos piano II, Aubade, Le Bal masqué, Rapsodie nègre); harpsichord (Concert champêtre)
Sylviane Deferne piano (Concerto for Two Pianos piano I)
Peter Hurford organ (Organ Concerto)

Pascal Saumon, Laurent Decker oboe
Philippe Hanon, Claude Fustin bassoon
Marc Bauer, Yves Coueffe trumpet
Sébastien Larrère, Jacques Fourquet, André Goudenhooft trombone
Bernard Balet percussion (CD 2)

Philharmonia Orchestra (CD 1)
Orchestre National de France (CDs 2-3, 5)
Solistes de l’Orchestre National de France (CD 4)
conducted by Charles Dutoit (CDs 1-5)

Recording producers: Christopher Pope; Paul Myers (Piano Concerto, Concerto for Two Pianos, Organ Concerto, Concert champêtre, Gloria, Litanies à la Vierge noire, Stabat Mater)

FP numbering from The Music of Francis Poulenc: A Catalogue by Carl B. Schmidt (Oxford 1995)