Poulenc: Stabat Mater, Les Biches

"A perfect storm. From Poulenc's yin and yang department come two fine creations: the sad but noble Stabat Mater and Les Biches, his feisty, colorful ballet score that wowed them in Monte Carlo and Paris when it was unveiled in 1924. From Maestro Deneve comes conducting that is deeply felt and in magnificent control of dynamics. The Stuttgart ensembles contribute superb musicianship, and Marlis Petersen spins a web of beauty and power in the evocative solos of the Stabat Mater. In keeping with everything else, the engineering is state-of-the-art. ... Robert Shaw gave us marvelous Poulenc, and his Telarc Stabat Mater coupled with Szymanowski's riveting take on the same text is wonderful. This one, I think, joins it at the top. ... Deneve gets the bleakness of the opening but leavens it with a touch of elegance courtesy of the celestial sounds of his choral sopranos. 'O quam tristis' shimmers with sadness, and there's a real buzz to the anguish generated at 'Pro peccatis suae gentis'. Also affecting is the way the conductor and soloist join forces to lift the soul, just as the text commands at 'Fac, ut animae donetur Paradisi gloria'. Pick an interlude and you're bound to hear something way out of the ordinary" (Philip Greenfield, American Record Guide, July/August 2013, p. 135).

View catalog record here!