Figure Humaine / Sept Chansons / Un Soir De Niege

Product Description TITLE: Poulenc: Figure Humaine Amazon.com This CD of choral music by Poulenc is a stunning study of textures; every so often you may think you hear an instrument, so flavorful are the timbres of the voices and the manner in which Poulenc uses them. This is serious music--"Un soir de neige" and "Figure humaine" were composed during World War II--and the subjects of the poems can be bleak, but they are endlessly inventive in their harmonies and rhythms. The St. Francis prayers are for male voices only and their dark hue offers moments of peace and solitude. And the CD ends with a drinking song asking the male voice to descend to great depths in a thoroughly jolly fashion. The Sept Chansons, from 1936, have Debussy-like moments, and the alternation of soli and chorus just adds to the colors. The performances are perfect, with the German RIAS-Kammerchor singing with impeccable French diction under Daniel Reuss. An unusual, valuable, enchanting disc. --Robert Levine