Marking 50 years since the death of French composer Francis Poulenc, star soprano Patricia Petibon is the soloist in new recordings of his most rapturously beautiful sacred works: 'Gloria' and 'Stabat Mater'. Conductor Paavo Järvi also makes his DG recording debut, conducting the Orchestre de Paris and their renowned choir.

This major new release for Poulenc year brings together music of breathtaking beauty and originality, as well as Poulenc’s profoundly human spirituality. The album also features Poulenc’s passionate ‘Litanies à la Vierge noire’ (‘Litanies to the black Madonna’), written in response to the tragic death of a fellow composer – a work new to the DG catalogue and performed in the composer’s lesser-known arrangement with orchestral accompaniment.