*Les illuminations ( Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam)
Benjamin Briten-Les illuminations
Les Illuminations (The Illuminations), Op. 18, is a song cycle by Benjamin Britten, first performed in 1940. It is composed for soprano or tenor soloist and string orchestra, and sets verse and prose poems written in 1872–1873 by Arthur Rimbaud, part of his collection Les Illuminations.
The work takes about 21 minutes in performance.[3] The nine sections are:
1. Fanfare
2. Villes
3a and 3b. Phrase and Antique
4. Royauté
5. Marine
6. Interlude
7. Being beauteous
8. Parade
9. Départ
The work begins with a single sentence (taken from the poem "Parade") "J'ai seul la clef de cette parade sauvage" ("I alone have the key to this savage parade"). Seemingly, Britten takes this to mean that only the artist, observing the world with detachment, can make sense of the "savage parade" that is human life. The sentence is sung three times during the cycle.[4]