According to Francis Poulenc, turning poems into songs was an act of love. He set his finest mélodies to texts by his friend Paul Éluard. Their intermedial dialogue gained yet another dimension in the song cycle Le travail du peintre, that was inspired by Voir, a virtual museum in book form. The enthralling interplay between poetry, music and painting is at the heart of this edition. Besides an integral recording of Poulenc’s 34 solo songs on texts by Éluard, it contains a richly illustrated introduction to the artistic context in which these compositions took shape.

Jasper Schweppe studied in Zwolle with Lodewijk Meeuwsen and in The Hague with Meinard Kraak. He won the international Musicora competition for 20th century French song in Paris in 1999. He is currently engaged as singer and artistic coordinator with the Netherlands Chamber Choir; he also appears regularly with various ensembles as chorister and as soloist. His recent CD recordings include Fauré’s La bonne chanson and Schubert’s Winterreise.