The Chorus [Les Choristes]

by Bruno Coulais

Overview

Director Christophe Barratier's 2004 film Les Choristes, released in the U.S. in January 2005 as The Chorus, is, depending on your point of view, either a heart-warming or a saccharine story set in post-World War II France about a choral director at a school for delinquent children who reforms his charges by teaching them to sing together. Sing together they do on this album (a French best-seller), presenting new music by Bruno Coulais that sounds old. Actually, it isn't the boys' choir of the movie that's doing the singing, but rather Les Petits Chanteurs de Saint-Marc Choir, who, by the list of names, appear to include quite a few girls. In any case, the music is pleasant and harmonious, and the few snatches of Coulais' score played by the Bulgarian Symphony Orchestra (which no doubt charges less than a French orchestra would) are equally listenable. There are also bits of dialogue, notably in the final track, "Nous Sommes de Fond de l'Étang" ("We Are from Fond de l'Étang"), which is an audition in which the boys sing some of their favorites while trying out.

Product Details

Release Date:	08/07/2012
Label:	Varese Sarabande
UPC:	0030206715323
catalogNumber:	067153
Rank:	25061

Tracks

1. Les Choristes (The Chorus)
2. In Memoriam
3. L'Arrivée à l'École (Arrival at School)
4. Pépinot
5. Vois sur ton Chemin (Look on Your Path)
6. Les Partitions (The Scores)
7. Caresse sur l'Océan (Caress on the Ocean)
8. Lueur d'Été (Glimmer of Summer)
9. Cerf-Volant (Kite)
10. Sous la Pluie (In the Rain)
11. Compère Guilleri (Good Ol' Guilleri)
12. La Désillusion (Disillusion)
13. La Nuit (Night)
14. L'Incendie (Fire)
15. L'Évocation (Evocation)
16. Les Avions en Papier (Paper Airplanes)
17. Action Réaction (Action Reaction)
18. Seuls (Alone)
19. Morhange
20. In Memoriam A Cappella
21. Nous sommes de Fond de lÉtang (We are from Fond de l'Étang)
22. Vois sur ton Chemin (Look on Your Path)
23. In Memoriam
24. Caresse sur l'Océan (Caress on the Ocean)
25. Lueur d'Été (Glimmer of Summer)
26. Cerf-Volant (Kite)

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Bruno Coulais   Primary Artist
Bulgarian Symphony Orchestra   Performing Ensemble
Deyan Pavlov   Conductor
Dominic Faricier   Piano
Nicolas Porte   Conductor
Petits Chanteurs de Saint-Marc   Choir, Chorus
Raoul Duflot Verez   Piano
Jean-Baptiste Maunier   Vocals

Technical Credits

Jean-Philippe Rameau   Original Material
Cary E. Mansfield   Executive Producer
Slim Pezin   Artistic Director
Bruno Coulais   Composer,Text,Artistic Director
Bill Pitzonka   Art Direction
Didier Lizé   Engineer,Artistic Director
Paul Lavergne   Executive Producer
Christophe Barratier   Text,Artistic Director
Ellen Sowchek   translation