Poulenc: Gloria; Motets [Import]

Francis Poulenc (Composer), Stephen Layton (Conductor), Britten Sinfonia (Orchestra), Susan Gritton (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Susan Gritton
• Orchestra: Britten Sinfonia
• Conductor: Stephen Layton
• Composer: Francis Poulenc
• Audio CD (March 11, 2008)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Hyperion UK
• ASIN: B0012Y1HJ6
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #148,986 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Gloria in G major: Gloria in excelsis Deo

2. Gloria in G major: Laudamus te

3. Gloria in G major: Domine Deus

4. Gloria in G major: Domini Fili unigenite

5. Gloria in G major: Domine Deus, agnus Dei

6. Gloria in G major: Qui sedes ad dexteram Patris

7. Salve regina

8. Motets (4) pour un temps de pénitence: no 1, Timor et tremor

9. Motets (4) pour un temps de pénitence: no 2, Vinea mea electa

10. Motets (4) pour un temps de pénitence: no 3, Tenebrae factae sunt

11. Motets (4) pour un temps de pénitence: no 4, Tristis est anima mea

12. Motets (4) pour le temps de Noël: no 1, O magnum mysterium

13. Motets (4) pour le temps de Noël: no 2, Quem vidistis pastores

14. Motets (4) pour le temps de Noël: no 3, Videntes stellam

15. Motets (4) pour le temps de Noël: no 4, Hodie Christus natus est

16. Exultate Deo

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sublime music, sublime performance, July 7, 2008

By 

L. Gallagher "ljgdonegal" (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Poulenc: Gloria; Motets (Audio CD)

I cannot fathom why this recording remains an import. It has already attained the status of a classic in the Poulenc discography and for audiophiles it is indispensable. When I read the ecstatic reviews in Gramophone and BBC Music Magazine several months ago I was a bit skeptical, despite my enormous respect for Stephen Layton and Polyphony. For the a cappella pieces (the Lenten and Christmas motets), no problem--you would expect Polyphony to nail the austere style and diaphanous textures. But what about the panoramic and quasi-operatic scope of the "Gloria"? That seemed a stretch. For this recording, however, Polyphony enlisted the resources of the Trinity College choir, the Britten Sinfonia, and the estimable soprano Susan Gritton. And the results, indeed, are breathtaking. This truly is one of the most heartstoppingly beautiful, and vivid, recordings of Poulenc, of choral music, and of Susan Gritton's ineffably suave voice. Essential.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gloria in excelsis, indeed!, March 19, 2010

By 

R. Gregory Capaldini (Arlington, VA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Poulenc: Gloria; Motets (Audio CD)

There's little I can add to the excellent reviews for this disc, other than to explain why I believe it works. Poulenc's music requires good taste, or else its quirky shifts between traditional restraint and mild provacation can make it seem junky, witness the various subpar performances of his works on YouTube. In the "Gloria," Maestro Layton's choir (two combined groups) and orchestra give heat and weight when needed, but more important, they clearly understand when to back off. They're punchy in one passage that Poulenc admitted was partly inspired by seeing a group of monks play an impromptu game of soccer, but then utterly gentle in the final passage that feels to me like the shepherds quietly paying their respects to the Holy Family. Soprano Gusan Gritton shades her three solos resourcefully, by turns slightly despairing (3rd movement), coolly reticent (5th), and maternally peaceful (6th).

The a-cappella works sung by Layton's own vocal ensemble Polyphony similarly leave nothing to be desired, though I'd have enjoyed hearing the gentlemen's voices on the "Lauds to St. Anthony," the underrated counterpart to the "Four Little Prayers of St. Francis" that would have kept the program confined to Latin texts (the FLPs are in French). Any chance of a follow-up, Hyperion?