Poulenc, Francis (1923/1948): Les biches, suite de concert, FP 36b — NSO Ireland/Tingaud

Composer: Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc (7 January 1899 – 30 January 1963) Orchestra: National Symphony Orchestra, Ireland [RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra] (founded 1948) Conductor: Jean-Luc Tingaud (born 1969) This video has been reuploaded from the channel of its original producer, ‪@ThomasvanDun‬. Copyright 1948 by Heugel et Cᶦᵉ Éditeurs (Paris) Tous droits d'exécution et de reproduction reservés pour tous pays. À Misia Sert Les biches, suite de concert extraite du ballet, FP 36b (1921-1923 ; rév. 1939-1940 ; assemblé en suite 1948)* 00:00 — i. Rondeau (Rondo). ♩ = 66 - Subito allegro molto ♩ = 168 - Très calme ♩ = 96 - Subito allegro molto ♩ = 168 03:19 — ii. Adagietto. ♪ = 108 07:08 — iii. Rag-Mazurka. Presto ♩· = 160-164 12:54 — iv. Andantino. ♪ = 108 16:08 — v. Final (Finale). Presto 𝅗𝅥 = 108 - Le double plus lent - Presto 𝅗𝅥 = 108 - Tempo 1º [The Does/The Flirts/The Dear Ones]**, concert suite extracted from the ballet, FP 36b (1921-1923; rev. 1939-1940; suite 1948)* "Francis Poulenc wrote 'Les Biches' from 1921 through 1923 as a single-act ballet for orchestra and off-stage chorus for Serge Diaghilev and his Ballets russes. It was premièred under the direction of Édouard Flament at the Salle Garnier in Monte Carlo on 6 January 1924 with sets by Marie Laurencin and choreography was by Bronislava Nijinska, who danced the role of the Hostess. The ballet scenario was essentially Surrealist in the sense that it was, in Darius Milhaud’s words, the result of 'full fantasy' unencumbered by the usual conscious effort 'to describe, to suggest, to express, to comment upon'. The blurring of the distinctions between reality and imagination and between logic and fantasy was an explicit intention of 'Les biches'. Even its title mirrored the inextricable unity inherent in language use. The title directly exploded the surface appearance of contradiction. It refers at one and the same time to 'hind' (the female deer) and 'darling'. In line with the Surrealists’ defense of 'automatic' writing and free association, the title spontaneously came to the composer in a taxi. The ballet was decidedly playful and erotic. The set of 'Les biches' might be compared profitably with Surrealist canvases, particularly René Magritte’s 'Le monde invisible' (The Invisible World, 1954) and 'La chambre d’écoute' (The Listening Room, 1952). The background was all white and the only object on stage was an enormous blue sofa. The revelation of this seemingly limited meaning of objects was achieved in the ballet through the use of the blue sofa changing character. The penetration of the distinction between the seen and the unseen, and the alteration of the idea of the visible occurred through sudden changes created by turning the sofa around and using it as a mobile character. The subject of the ballet, if there was one, was sexual pleasure. The ballet score launched Poulenc’s career. Its music has been compared with Igor Stravinsky’s 'Pulcinella' (1919-1920) because of Poulenc’s evident use of eighteenth and early nineteenth-century musical forms and gestures. The work is a suite of events presenting a mix of styles, parody, rapid contrast, interpolations of jazz elements, allusions to the past and clear appropriations. Like pictorial Surrealism, it avoids a Modernist surface. Rather it used easily grasped musical events — the simple and familiar — in order to jettison established associations between music and experience. The work is akin to Surrealist word-games, employing recognisable musical images in humorous but provocative, psychologically penetrating ways. Jean Cocteau noted: 'I doubt whether this music knows it hurts.' As in Surrealist painting there is, as Nancy Perloff has observed, a 'tragic sound lurking beneath the tuneful surface'. While staying in Nancy from May 1939 through January 1940, Poulenc completely reorchestrated the ballet, and in 1948 produced this orchestral suite." — Leon Botstein (text revised) The full score to the complete ballet (FP 36) has never been published; however, a vocal score with a piano reduction by the composer was released in 1924 and later revised and corrected in 1947. ** The word 'biches' cannot justly be translated. Pregnant with double entendre, it most obviously refers to does; in the underworld of Parisian slang, it also refers to women (or ironically men) of deviant sexual proclivities. It does not bear any relation to its English false friend which includes the twentieth letter of its alphabet. Selon la description de cette chaîne, je ne possède rien dans cette vidéo. La musique et ses interprétations ont été téléchargées exclusivement et entièrement à des fins de divulgation, l'éducation et de diffusion de l'intérêt pour la musique et les arts. As per the description of this channel, I do not own anything within this video. The music and performances have been uploaded exclusively and entirely for the purposes of divulgation, education, and spreading interest in music and the arts.