Le Piano Du Groupe Des Six

With Steffen Schleiermacher's cleverly compiled anthology of piano music by the group of artists known as "Groupe des Six" we experience what unites, but above all what distinguishes these highly individual composers. Although they had little in common, they gained their collective title from a PR coup. Jean Cocteau, a jack-of-all-trades, liked to promote them and Erik Satie was more a point of reference than an actual mentor.

The Six were friends, at least some of the time, but musically they were anything but a homogeneous group. What united Francis Poulenc, Darius Milhaud, Germaine Tailleferre, Georges Auric, Arthur Honegger and Louis Durey was a certain opposition to Wagner's music and to so-called "Impressionism". On closer inspection, the similarities end there... the title of Tailleferre's "Hommage a Debussy" speaks for itself...

One encounters "Pastorales" surprisingly often, however, those expecting the bucolic atmosphere of a gently swaying 6/8 time signature might be disappointed: All six were Parisian city dwellers. While excursions into the genres of jazz, cabaret, film and theatre are often accompanied by simple, linear, neoclassical forms, Louis Durey's "Preludes" shows there is another way - his phrases filled with dramatic tension nigh on bursting are a fantastic discovery!

Erik Satie wrote "The spontaneity, the creative power, the boldness can be found first and foremost in Auric, Milhaud, Poulenc - the concern for the convention of the school, for tried and tested harmonic forms, that is the destiny chosen by Durey, Honegger, Tailleferre. They are free to act in this way." Despite all the differences, the members of the group remained in touch, which is confirmed by a photo of the six from the 1950s, posing in the same way as in a photo from 1925.

 Erik Satie (1866-1925) , Georges Auric (1899-1983) , Darius Milhaud (1892-1974) , Arthur Honegger (1892-1955) , Francis Poulenc (1899-1963) , Germaine Tailleferre (1892-1983) , Louis Durey (1888-1979)

• Erik Satie: La Belle Excentrique; La Diva de l'Empire
  +Georges Auric: 3 Pastorales; Prelude
  +Darius Milhaud: 3 Rag-Caprices; Mazurka
  +Arthur Honegger: Sarabande, 7 Pieces Breves
  +Francis Poulenc: 3 Pastorales; Valse
  +Germaine Tailleferre: Pastorale; Hommage a Debussy; Pas trop vite
  +Louis Durey: Romance sans Paroles; 3 Preludes; A Francis Poulenc