Poulenc - Les Biches e.a.w. (1991)

Opnamen uit 1962 (al wel in stereo), die een halve eeuw later nog steeds fris en energiek klinken. "Poulenc wrote Les Biches in 1923 for Diaghilev's ballet company; the published suite, which he revised in 1940, omitted the overture and 3 vocal numbers. This anthology of tongue-in-cheek cliches will not be to all tastes, but there is charm here as well as foolery, and the playing is stylish and gay. Dutilleux was a Prix de Rome winner just before the war. The music for the ballet Le Loup was commissioned by Roland Petit. The third and last of the 'symphonic fragments' is a substantial piece; it made me want to hear more music by this composer. La Creation du Monde fills the rest of the record, and the Paris Conservatoire Orchestra is not that well at home in the jazz idiom. The music is for the most part stylishly played and realistically recorded. Many know all too little about modern French ballet music, and this record offers three well-varied examples of considerable interest." (R.F., Gramophone, 1962)