Poulenc: Les biches Suite, Les animaux modèles Suite & Sinfonietta

Featuring

Jean-Luc Tingaud
RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra
Francis Poulenc

Did you know?

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Composition History

Poulenc composed Les Animaux modèles during World War II, basing it on La Fontaine's fables, and included a musical act of defiance against the Nazi occupation of France.

Composer Biography

Poulenc was a member of Les Six, a group promoted by Jean Cocteau, and was famously described by critic Claude Rostand as 'half-monk, half-rascal'.

Composition History

Poulenc's ballet Les Biches, which means 'female deer' or 'darlings', has no real plot but explores themes like voyeurism and female sexual power, considered taboo at the time.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Humour is central to much of Poulenc's music, even in his sacred works, where he often sounds as if he is writing with a 'glint in his eye'.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Poulenc acknowledged that he wasn't an innovator of harmonic techniques like Stravinsky, Ravel, or Debussy, but believed there was a place for new music that used 'other people's chords'.

Compositional Technique

Poulenc's Sinfonietta was created by reconstructing a string quartet he had previously discarded, demonstrating his penchant for musical recycling.

Composer Biography

Francis Poulenc, born into a reputable family of industrialists in Paris, first encountered Stravinsky's music at age eleven, which significantly influenced his own works.