Welcome to Hyperion Records, an independent British classical label devoted to presenting high-quality recordings of music of all styles and from all periods from the twelfth century to the twenty-first.
Hyperion offers both CDs, and downloads in a number of formats. The site is also available in several languages.
Please use the dropdown buttons to set your preferred options, or use the checkbox to accept the defaults.
Christopher Maltman (baritone), Malcolm Martineau (piano)» More |
It is clear that Poulenc’s youthful friendship with Radiguet, and the poet’s unexpected and early demise, had left the composer with a sense of responsibility regarding this lyric. His commentary in JdmM—unusually detailed for so slight a song—may be quoted at length: ‘These few lines of Radiguet have always had a magical savour for me. In 1920 I set them to music … at that period, lacking technical control, I ran into difficulties, whereas today I believe I have found the means to progress without any real modulation as far as that sudden pause, that silence which makes the ultimate unprepared modulation into C sharp [in the last four bars] unexpected and as though perched right on the top of a tree … One rainy day a feeling of great melancholy helped me to find the tone that I believed to be right. I think it useful to bear in mind how modern poems are placed on the page. It was this that gave me the idea of respecting the blank space in the printing of the poem before “Elle rajeunit” [bars 11–12] … If the tempo is not maintained strictly throughout, this small song, made of a little music, of much tenderness and of one silence, is ruined.’
from notes by Graham Johnson © 2013
Poulenc: The Complete Songs, Vol. 2 This series charting the complete songs of Francis Poulenc is performed by some of the greatest singers of the day and accompanied by the exceptional Malcolm Martineau.» More |