The Archive - Francis Poulenc

The Archive - Francis Poulenc

This episode of The Archive is dedicated to the great contemporary French composer, Francis Poulenc. Throughout this program, he accompanies friends Denise Duval, Jacques Février and Jean-Pierre Rampal on the piano. Firstly, in 1959 at the Salle Gaveau soprano Denise Duval sings excerpts from his main operatic works: Les Mamelles de Tirésias, Le Dialogue de Carmélites and La Voix Humaine. Then in 1960, for a French TV audition, they perform two parts of La Courte-Paille, the composer’s last cycle of melodies. With Jacques Février he then plays the Concerto for two pianos in 1962 for television, accompanied by the Orchestre National de la RTF conducted by the young Georges Prêtre, Poulenc’s favourite conductor at this time. We then see a recital given for French TV by Jacques Février and Gabriel Bacquier in 1964, in homage to the composer who died one year before. They perform three excerpts from his melodies : the Offrande and Invocation aux parques (Chansons gaillardes), Voyage à Paris and Hôtel (Banalités), Les gars qui vont à la fête (Chansons villageoises). The program ends with the Cantilène of the Sonata for flute and piano that Poulenc performed in 1959 in Paris with Jean-Pierre Rampal, to whom the work was dedicated.