all about me
Francis Poulenc Chamber Music Vol. 2
This 5th CD with chamber music works by Francis Poulenc was released in 2020 by paladino music Wien.
Playing:
Ahran Kim, flute
Andreas Schablas, clarinet
Corinna Desch, violin
Martin Rummel, violoncello
Eva-Maria May, piano
It sings: Damien Gastl, baritone
Especially worth mentioning is L’invitation au château, a stage music for violin, clarinet and piano (1947) to Jean Anouilh’s comedy of the same name: music of a bygone era, music that swirls around the listener with an unsettling lightness, with its longings, melancholies and erotic scents.
The CD is available on the market and can also be directly ordered at E.M.May, 80538 Munich, Bruderstr. 10
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POÈMES for violoncello & piana
Eva-Maria May piano, Klau Kämper violoncello
This CD was released in 2021 on the Solo Musica label.
The duo May-Kämper has been conceiving challenging programs together for many years. Inspired by the tonal possibilities that arise from the cello-piano combination, this new CD was created with works by Brahms Bis Francaix.
The CD is available on the market and can also be directly ordered at E.M.May, 80538 Munich, Bruderstr. 10
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Concert series with pianist Eva-Maria May at Johannissaal, Nymphenburg Castle
The 5 MATINÉES „Hommage a Francis Poulenc“ will be continued with 4 „m u s i k & p o e s i e“ matinées:
APRIL 7th 2019, 11 o‘clock
„I coloured the sky dewberry with my lifeblood“
Else Lasker-Schüler und Gottfried Benn: Jovita Dermota reading and interpreting this exciting artistic relationship
Pianist Alexander Wienand using jazz standards by Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk to illustrate poems and letters of this unequal couple.
Eva-Maria May und Alexander Wienand crossover Skrjabin jazz can be heard as well.
After the break:
„But the bliss, not suffering in it’s sleep and without death there is no dying“ (Hölderlin)
Hartmut Becker reading Peter Härtlings „Hölderlin“
Diotima hovering over „Songs of Dawn“
Eva-Maria May playing „Kreisleriana op.16“ by Robert Schumann
In this exciting first matinée we have two couples:
- Lasker-Schüler/Benn and Diotima / Hölderlin
- Duke Ellington / Robert Schumann and May/Wienand will be presented by pianist duo Onda Verde
Presented by: ART&CONCERT
Tickets available at München Ticket
admission fee: 25 Euros / four concert ticket: 70 Euros
AUGUST 4th 2019, 11 o‘clock
„No poet ever will talk about the moon again“ (Moravia)
Pauline Fusban reading texts from Italy and Russia
Experience the Eusebius trio / Desch May Kämper / works ranging from Antonio Vivaldi ans Alfredo Casella, Peter Tschaikowsky and Sergei Prokowjev
Presented by: ART&CONCERT
Tickets available atMünchen Ticket
admission fee: 25 Euros / four concert ticket: 70 Euros
OCTOBER 6th 2019, 11 o‘clock
„and in the darkest night of my life I saw the stars“ (Carlos Ruiz)
Pauline Fusban reading texts from France and Spain
Michael Tröster, guitar / Francisco Tarrega Heitor Villa Lobos, Eva-Maria May, piano, Corinna Desch, violin, Francis Poulenc Claude Debussy Manuel de Falla
Presented by: ART&CONCERT
Tickets available at München Ticket
admission fee: 25 Euros / four concert ticket: 70 Euros
DEZEMBER 8th 2019, 11 o‘clock
„Everyone falling has wings“ (Bachmann)
Jovita Dermota reading writings from Ingeborg Bachmann
Norman Shetler (Vienna), piano / piano trio Eusebius / Klaus Kämper / Corinna Desch Eva-Maria May / Franz Schubert Anton Webern Johann Strauss
Presented by: ART&CONCERT
Tickets available at München Ticket
admission fee: 25 Euros / four concert ticket: 70 Euros
Personal Notes from the Recent Past
NOW NEW:
CD „Poulenc: Music for Piano, two Pianos and Four-Handed Piano“
The fourth album „Francis Poulenc“ appeared at the end of 2018
The piano-duo ONDA VERDE, Eva.Maria May and Alexander Wienand, have been successfully performing concerts for over fifteen years. This album with works for 2 pianos and four-handed compositions is the third CD by this Duo venturing into new musical spheres with a precise interpretative vision and intuitive spontaneity: the two pianists will play for an audience in the 1. Nymphenburger Matinée at 11 o’clock on 7 April 2019 in the Johannis-Saal of Munich’s Nymphenburger Castle.
Francis Poulenc wrote the Sonata for 2 Pianos for the duo Gold/Fitzdale, who premiered it on 2.11.1953 in London. This work belongs to the most significant compositions written by Poulenc. The ‘smaller’ pieces, that are also to be heard on the CD, were all composed in the same time frame, the fifteen Improvisations, on the other hand, form an intimate pianistic diary, whose creation spans a time range of almost 3 decades (1932-1959)
The CD is available on the market and can also be directly ordered at E.M.May, 80538 Munich, Bruderstr. 10
Go to the new CD
CD „Poulenc – Sonatas with piano“
The CD is available on the market and can also be directly ordered at E.M.May, 80538 Munich, Bruderstr. 10
Go to the CD
Double-CD „Babar“
Music by Francis Poulenc | Text by Jean de Brunhoff
The Story of Babar, the little Elephant, mirrors Poulenc’s own vita: the lost paradise of his childhood through the loss of his parents – for Babar it’s his longing for the jungle – Poulenc’s own success story – the coronation of Babar – his ‘joie de vivre’ – always before the backdrop of idealized love!
“My Music is my portrait.” (Francis Poulenc, 1963)
At the end of the musical tale the reveries of King Babar and his Queen Celeste reach for the stars in melancholic solemnity anticipating to age in harmony. The narration of Babar’s story is to be heard on the CD in German, English and French.
The CD “Babar” is available on the market and can also be directly ordered at E.M.May, 80538 Munich, Bruderstr. 10
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Recording of the month
“… Collectively and individually it would be hard to imagine finer exponents of this marvellous music. Wiese, Lessing, Wienand and May provide sensitively characterised performances. Recorded at three locations under studio conditions the engineering team maintains a consistently high level of sound quality: vividly clear and well balanced. Lovers of French music will relish this beautifully produced release.”
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French Enchantment
“This Poulenc recording presents chamber music in its manifold expressions. The faceted richness of the performance here cannot be surpassed. To experience Francis Poulencs Sonata for two Pianos played by Eva-Maria May and Alexander Wienand is an adventure in itself. As on a journey we encounter many different landscapes, contrasting moods, experience motion, hectic acceleration, dive into quietude, partake in magnificent visions. The musicians melt together into one great whole. The unique harmonics provide a sharpness of dissonances, polytonalities, popular expressions and clichéd phrases. In every situation the musians allow the rich harmonies enough time to unfold themselves. They celebrate the quietness and transform nona chords, like the simple C-major triad into exhilarating beauty. The instrumentalists play music with an exuberant love for life, daring wit and all the way to cool aloofness. Lovers of French music will experience sonatas by Francis Poulenc on the highest possible level.”
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Personal Notes from the Recent Past
Fascinated by the richness of color and brilliance of his solo and chamber music compositions, Eva-Maria May has in the past few years added works by the composer Francis Poulenc (1899-1963) to her recital program. Not without reason Arthur Rubinstein and Vladimir Horowitz had already in the 1920’s been sustainably engaged promoting Francis Poulenc.
In collaboration with the Viennese Label “Paladino” a CD came out 2015 exclusively with works of the French composer.
Shortly after its appearance this CD was awarded “Recording of the Month” by musicweb international (“poulenc chamber music” paladino music can be ordered online or by mail directly at E.M. May / 80538 Munich / Bruderstr. 10) (Original article). En Français.
Soon a new CD with Poulenc’s musical fairy tale “Babar” will appear at Paladino with the text read in German, French and English.
2010
Dr. Cathrin Klingsöhr-Leroy, director of the Franz Marc Museum in Kochel in southern Bavaria, has housed around 20 concerts since 2010 in the context of various museum and gallery openings. Here one could hear E.M. May performing works ranging from J.S. Bach to J. Cage.
Since 2005
With the painter and photographer Louis Soltmann music collages (Lapilli 5) were produced, that were to be heard and seen in Duisburg, Cologne and on Lanzarote.
