February 26, 2013

  • Review: Polar Poulenc Opposites

     

    Poulenc: Stabat Mater; Les Biches
    Marlis Petersen, soprano.  Stuttgart Vokalensemble; NDR Choir;
    Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra/Stephane Deneve
    Hanssler Classic 93.297
    Total Time:  64:47
    Recording:   ****/****
    Performance: ****/****

     

    The coupling of a Poulenc choral masterpiece with one of his somewhat familiar ballets makes for a great programming concept.  As one of the founding members of Les Six, he brought a blend of religious modal writing with pronounced with and clarity of line as one of the important musical elements to explore.  It is not necessary to hear these pieces as reactions to Impressionist musical philosophies as these moments still can appear suddenly in Poulenc.  But the music often tends to shift freely from Neo-Classical aesthetics to Modernism with often gorgeous results.  This release features works that highlight the two prominent aspects of Poulenc’s character: religious depth and subtle wit.

    The Stabat Mater (1950) comes from the more serious later side of the composer.  Fifteen years prior, he had made a pilgrimage to Rocamadour in Southern France.  This led to a spiritual awakening that would flower first in this work and also in the great 1960 Gloria.  The piece is a deeply personal work having been composed upon the death of his close friend Christian Berard.

    The Stabat Mater opens in quiet beauty, almost cinematic in quality before being shattered by the “Cujus animam gementem.”  These shifts between sublime beauty and power interjections are what make the work so striking in Poulenc’s output.  Most interesting are when these moments have splashes of Impressionistic magic that are rather striking in the balanced feel of ancient words in a modern context.  The music too makes reference to earlier musical forms with a Baroque sarabande (“Fac ut portem”) sitting in contrast to Renaissance vocal polyphony (“Fac ut ardeat”).  The work becomes a prayer of intercession with a sense of humility on the part of the composer for his friend.  The return to more diatonic writing mid-century also sets this work apart for the time.

    On the other end of the spectrum is the concluding work, Les Biches.  Commissioned by Dhiagelev for the Ballets Russes, Les Biches was intended as a sort of “update” of Les Sylphides.  The libretto of the ballet follows three men in swimwear who meet up with 16 girls in a salon.  What follows is a series of erotic scenarios lending the work its shocking subject matter.  Poulenc’s music is a delicious blend of Neo-Baroque styles alongside jazz elements including a rag-mazurka.  It is a work that finds its roots in Stravinsky’s Pulcinella as well with its use of older dance forms.  The work is set for orchestra and chorus though the choral moments and the overture were removed for the suite which occasionally appears in concert or recordings.  “Jeu” has choral writing most Stravinsky-like (and a melodic turn that must be the closest to “Shave and a Haircut” that you will hear in classical music).The work was premiered January 6, 1924, with great success and was essentially Poulenc’s breakthrough work leading to establishing his arrival as a composer.  It was the “Rondeau” of this work that I actually used as theme music for my Saturday public radio programs so the work holds a special place for me as well.  Placing this work second on the disc is a wise choice as it provides an emotional valve to release the intensity of the opening work.

    After releasing a series of superb Roussel recordings on Naxos, it is good to see what Deneve is tackling next.  Poulenc makes for a different early 20th-century voice with similar roots that went in a different direction but Deneve captures those threads of Impressionism and Modernism well.  The powerful moments of the Stabat Mater are perhaps the finest one may hear with good balance with orchestra and chorus.  Marlis Petersen’s voice is crystal clear and floats above the texture when it appears.  It is just one more level of beauty attached to this superb performance.   The performance of Les Biches has great clarity in the performance as well with great tempos that help move the music along when needed but also lend an interpretive hand in the beautiful lyric sections.  The detail of the orchestration is amazingly well-captured by the Hanssler team.  This is a fabulous addition to the Poulenc catalog and not to be missed.