Wiener Symphoniker / Benoit / Jacquot

»No more clouds, waves, aquariums, undines and nocturnal scents - what we need is music that is at home on earth, music for all days ... perfect, pure, without superfluous ornamentation«, was how the writer Jean Cocteau formulated the program of the Groupe des Six, a group of composers active in France in the 1920s around the mentor Erik Satie. Francis Poulenc was also a member.

Stabat mater

Poulenc came relatively late to choral music, which he considered the »best and most credible aspect« of himself. Extremely moved by a pilgrimage to the Black Madonna of Rocamadour, he wrote several sacred works, including the neoclassical Stabat mater in 1950. The Wiener Symphoniker with the Wiener Singakademie and Elsa Benoit under the direction of Marie Jacquot will perform it for the first time at the Wiener Konzerthaus.

»Petrushka« and »Les animaux modèles«

With this work, Poulenc commemorated his deceased friend, the artist Christian Bérard, whose partner Boris Kochno had worked for the Ballets Russes. This Russian ballet company, directed by Sergei Diaghilev, also performed »Petrushka« in 1911, for which Igor Stravinsky had composed the music. Poulenc was already very impressed by it at a young age. The program also includes »Les animaux modèles«, a ballet score by Poulenc from 1942.