Hyperion Records

Priez pour paix was written in the dark days of the Munich crisis. The words are by Charles, duc d’Orléans (1394–1465). Poulenc wrote: ‘I tried to give here a feeling of fervour and above all of humility (for me the most beautiful quality of prayer). It is a prayer for a country church.’ This is not only religious music; in a subtle way it strives to achieve a medieval hieratic atmosphere appropriate to the poet.

from notes by Graham Johnson © 1985