For once Timpani is not offering you a world premiere recording! This is a song recital that is completely Poulenc - and even completely Eluard as well. The works have all been recorded before, but that's not the point! The point is that one of the finest French baritones has got hold of these songs: Pierre-Yves Pruvot. Eluard was - with Apollinaire - Poulenc's preferred poet: a world of lyricism, often solemn, with a touch of surrealism, and an obsession with love. Pierre-Yves Pruvot is a French artiste... who crosses the frontiers, notably to Germany, but he also appears on all the French platforms. We hailed him in the exhumation of Der Kaiser von Atlantis, in The Merchant of Venice (leading role of Shylock) and in the title role of Rigoletto. For Timpani he recorded his first Poulenc CD some ten years ago, already with the excellent Charles Bouisset, and then he took part in two major operatic productions: Le Coeur du Moulin (Severac) and Le Docteur Miracle (Bizet). He has an inborn talent for song, bringing out the treasures hidden within the text. He is the embodiment of the phrase written by Eluard for Poulenc: quot;Francis, I owe it to you for hearing myself.quot;
