French Songs 30s

Django Reinhardt is exclusively a sideman in this compilation of recordings made with various French bands and singers during the 1930s. The instrumental tracks are okay, especially those with violinist Michel Warlop's orchestra, even if Warlop is no match for Stéphane Grappelli. The final two instrumental tracks by Wal-Berg & Son are a mystery, as Django is not among the credited musicians. The vocal tracks are another matter. Nina Rette's vocals, dominated by her bird-like vibrato, mar her work with Reinhardt and Grappelli. Reinhardt isn't even listed in the session by singer Andre Pasdoc (if he isn't present, why is it included?); no matter, as this pair of songs deserve to remain obscure. No better are the tracks by long forgotten singers Yvonne Louis or Micheline Day…

A few of these small choral gems are well known to amateur choirs, and Poulenc's secular choral pieces are more often presented one at a time on choral albums than in the groupings in which they were originally included. Francis Poulenc: Secular Choral Music offers the composer's very first choral piece, the Chanson à boire for men's voices (1922), but most of the music here dates from either the late '30s (the Petites voix, for female or children's voices, and Sept chansons) or the World War II era (Un soir de neige), the folk-song settings entitled Chansons françaises, and the ambitious Figure humaine, whose final number, "Liberté," was dropped in sheet music form over French cities by Britain's Royal Air Force. Someone once described Poulenc as "part monk, part hooligan," and these a cappella choral works give evidence of both tendencies. The Chansons françaises are cheerful pieces with just a shade of extended harmony, almost French counterparts to Bartók's folk song settings, while the more serious pieces, such as "Un chien perdu" (A Lost Dog), from the Petites voix, have a mystical tinge that links them strongly with Poulenc's better-known sacred choral music.