JEAN CRAS (1879-1932): Élégies, L'Offrande lyrique, Fontaines, 3 Noëls, w/String Quartet: Douceur du soir, Mains lasses, L'Espoir luit, Image.

Description: The earliest set here, the 1910 Élégies are like a trial run for the opera Polyphème, setting texts by the decadent Symbolist Albert Samain. Like the first thre items listed above for string quartet accompaniment, from other symbolist poets, the fragrant, hypnotic atmosphere of decline, decompostion, lost love and the equation of love and death bring out the modality, pentatonicism and other musical methods which can also produce the antique qualities of light, stillness and ecstasy which mark out the Celtic soul of the composer. French-English texts. Ingrid Perruche (soprano), Philippe Do (tenor), Lionel Peintre (baritone), Orchestre de Bretagne; Claude Schnitzler.