Composer: Francis Poulenc
Performer: Véronique Gens
Orchestra: Orchestre National de Lille
Conductor: Alexandre Bloch
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Alpha
Catalogue: ALPHA899
Release: 2023
Size: 1.23 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
La voix humaine, FP 171
01. No. 1, Introduction
02. No. 2, Allô, allô…
03. No. 3, Allô! C’est toi?
04. No. 4, Hier soir, je me suis couchée tout de suite
05. No. 5, Allô, chéri… si on coupe, redemande-moi tout de suite
06. No. 6, Quelle comédie?
07. No. 7, Souviens-toi du dimanche de Versailles
08. No. 8, Demain? Je ne savais pas que c’était si rapide
09. No. 9, Allô… et comme ça
10. No. 10, “Oh! Non, mon chéri, surtout ne me regarde pas”
11. No. 11, Allô, allô, mademoiselle
12. No. 12, Allô! Ah! Chéri, c’est toi…
13. No. 13, Hier soir, j’ai voulu prendre un comprimé
14. No. 14, Il était quatre heures du matin
15. No. 15, Allô! J’entends de la musique…
16. No. 16, Pardonne-moi, je sais que cette scène est intolérable
17. No. 17, Avant-hier soir? J’ai dormi
18. No. 18, Allô, allô, madame, retirez-vous
19. No. 19, Sois tranquille. On ne se suicide pas deux fois
20. No. 20, Allô!… Allô!… Mon Dieu, faites ce qu’il redemande
21. No. 21, Alors, voilà… J’allais dire machinalement: à tout de suite
Sinfonietta, FP 141
22. I. Allegro con fuoco
23. II. Molto vivace
24. III. Andante cantabile
25. IV. Très vite et très gai
Véronique Gens’s version of La Voix humaine has been eagerly awaited! This ‘lyric tragedy in one act’ might have been written for her, so ideally suited are her feeling for language and her dramatic intensity to Poulenc’s monologue on a text by Jean Cocteau, composed in 1958. This is a far cry from the ‘light’ Poulenc of the 1920s. Cocteau paid him the highest compliment: ‘Dear Francis, you have fixed, once and for all, the way to speak my text.’ Véronique Gens confesses that she had always wanted to perform and record this piece; now she has achieved her ambition, in close partnership with the Orchestre National de Lille under its music director Alexandre Bloch. Also featured on the album is the Sinfonietta: this is in fact a genuine symphony, but, as Nicolas Southon writes, ‘there is no denying that the work – commissioned by the BBC in 1947 – has a freshness and a freedom of tone that justify its title’.