PAUL LE FLEM (1881-1984): Aucassin et Nicolette.

Description: In 1909, Le Flem was equally bowled over by Debussy' Pélleas when he composed this shadow puppet opera (shadow puppetry - "Chinese shadows" - was all the rage in fin de siècle Paris) which sets a medieval chantefable to music of the most tantalizing Impressionistic hues, modality forward, using a chamber orchestra of strings, harp, piano and organ. Le Flem, as grounded in his terroir as Séverac was in his, caps the work by using a Breton folk-song to proclaim the moral of the story. French-English texts. Delphine Haidan (mezzo), Stanislas de Barbeyrac (tenor), Mélanie Boisvert (soprano), Armand Arapian (baritone), Solistes de Lyon, Orchestre des Pays de Savoie; Nicolas Chalvin.