Another pastiche this—music suitable for a film or a stage play, an honourable forereunner of Ravel’s
Chanson à boire from the
Don Quichotte set, and of Poulenc’s from the
Chansons Gaillardes. Determinedly hearty music such as this, with a hint of the dance (the ducking and weaving of inebriated cavaliers), is a simple thing for this composer, merely grist to Camille. It is a more ponderous re-write of
Marquise from sixteen years earlier, but a good character piece for a gallant baritone.
from notes by Graham Johnson © 1997
;)
