According to Francis Poulenc, composing songs set to poetic texts was nothing less than an act of love. His most beautiful mélodies were written to the poems of his friend Paul Éluard, one of the central figures of the surrealist movement. Jasper Schweppe made new recordings for this CD of all 34 solo songs by Poulenc set to texts by Éluard. 

 

It is fascinating to hear how Poulenc translates Éluard's unique poetic universe into his musical idiom. The interaction between different art forms takes on an extra dimension when it comes to poems dedicated to visual artists. For his cycle Le Travail du peintre, Poulenc based his work on Voir, Éluard's virtual museum in book form. 

 

This captivating interplay between poetry, music, and painting is central to this release. In the richly illustrated text booklet, Poulenc's songs and the world of Paul Éluard are explained by a team of specialists led by Maaike Koffeman. 

 

The CD was released internationally in the autumn of 2017 by Etcetera Records and was released in the spring of 2018 in the Netherlands by Etcetera Records and Amsterdam University Press.