Holst Singers
Stephen Layton, conductor

Poulenc's dormant Catholicism was reawakened in 1936 and had a profound influence on him as a composer. Much of his work thereafter was liturgical in nature and moved away from the irreverence of his youth towards greater depth and meaning. His Organ Concerto is hugely powerful and forbidding, whilst being poetic and emotional at turns, while his Gloria is a mixture of solemnity and mischievous exuberance, both in contrast to Ravel's nostalgic and beautiful miniature Pavane.

Poulenc: Organ Concerto
Poulenc: Gloria
Poulenc: Les animaux modeles
Ravel: Pavane pour une infante defunte


Pre-concert debate with Revd Richard Coles and Anne Atkins

6.15 - 7.15pm
Free, booking required

Poulenc was a committed Roman Catholic as well as being openly homosexual, or as open it was possible to be in the France of his lifetime. BBC Radio Four's Saturday Live host the Revd Richard Coles and novelist Anne Atkins consider the effect and limitations both religion and sexuality have on artists and their work. This is not a ‘Newsnight' stand-off but a serious and frank engagement with Christian points of view on this theme