Georges Pretre plays Francois Poulenc

Composer Francis Poulenc, who celebrated the 125th anniversary of his birth in 2024, placed his deepest trust in conductor Georges Prêtre.

Poulenc was one of the composers who recognized the importance of the gramophone in popularizing music in the 1920s, and he recorded not only his own works but also those of Chabrier, Debussy, Gounod, and Ravel, mainly for EMI France, He recorded not only his own works but also songs by Chabrier, Debussy, Gounod, and Ravel, mainly for EMI France. He also performed and recorded with many collaborators, including supervision, and one of the most prominent French conductors of his generation, Georges Prêtre (1924-2017), was one of Poulenc's deepest admirers.

Prêtre was a renowned conductor of both opera and orchestra at the time, a former music director of the Paris Opera, and conducted major orchestras in Europe and the United States. Before becoming Maria Callas' favorite conductor, he was also Poulenc's favorite conductor, entrusting him with the premieres of many of his scores.

This box set brings together Poulenc's works recorded by Prêtre within the former EMI catalog, showing the many facets of his music: sincere, spontaneous, moving, and surprisingly dynamic in its expression. Including a concerto with Gabriel Tacchino, Poulenc's only piano pupil, this is a collection of performances in the Poulenc vein, in the good old French music tradition and interpretation, with its stylish flavor.