L'album des six

Description

The German pianist Corinna Simon tackles a rare and very interesting program drawn from the French repertoire. Les Six were a group of six avant-garde French composers - Arthur Honegger (1892-1955), Georges Auric (1899-1983), Louis Durey (1888-1979), Germaine Tailleferre (1892-1983), Francis Poulenc (1899-1963) and Darius Milhaud (1892-1974) - a unique phenomenon of the Parisian scene of the early 20th century, characterized by overflowing imagination, rich in elegance and refinement, but also not stingy in provocative effects. The program opens with their unique eponymous collaboration (The Album of the Six), where each of them is represented by a fairly short piece, associated with and recognizable to their personality. The record then focuses on pieces by five of the group's members: Arthur Honegger with his "Seven Brief Pieces," Darius Milhaud with his triptych "Le Printemps, Op.25," Francis Poulenc with his "Improvisation in A minor," "Mélancolie" and "Novelette No. 3 in E Minor" and Georges Auric with his "Three Pastorales." The album concludes with pieces by the only female composer of the group of Six, Germaine Tailleferre: "Impromptu," "Partita," "Rêverie" and "Romance." A fascinating program on composers far too often forgotten from the rich French music.