Songs of the Auvergne
Imagine the evocative power of a series of songs written by a composer who was convinced that his patch of the planet – the mountainous triangle between the French cities of Lyons, Clermont-Ferrand and Saint-Etienne, which takes in the likes of Le Puy and Domeyrat Castle- were an earthly paradise. Joseph Canteloube’s Songs of the Auvergne are miniature masterpieces, with intricate orchestration and a glittering soundscape, and they conjure up that part of France like nothing else. Nowadays they tend to be sung by opera singers, but they were originally written as folk songs.
In this programme, Paul Herriott visits the region and speaks to some key interpreters of the songs, Kiri Te Kanawa, Véronique Gens – as well as Kent Nagano, who directed the Dawn Upshaw recording when he was conductor at Lyons Opera.
“What I wanted to do was re-create that rural French atmosphere and the sense of pleasure that the songs have brought to me, and to others, over the years,” says Herriott.
(First broadcast November 2005)
RTÉ lyric fm, Sunday 20th October, 6pm-7pm