Pour récitant et piano à quatre mains-During the visit to Brive-la-Gaillarde in 1940 Poulenc sketched a little piece for the children of his cousins: Sophie Sylvie Benoit Florence and Delphine Périer Yvan Alain Marie-Christine and Marguerite-MarieVillotte and their two friends Marthe Bosredon and André Lecoeur. This took the form of a musical background to Jean de Brunhoff's popular illustrated children's story about Babar a baby elephant whose mother is killed by ahuntsman. Fortunately Babar meets a kind elderly lady who dresses him in a fine suit and gives him an impressive motor-car.However Babar feels homesick for his forests and is pleased when his cousins Arthur and Celeste find him and needs no persuasion to go home with them. Back in the forest where the King of the Elephants has eaten a poisonous mushroom Babar is elected to succeed as King. He marries Celeste and the last we hear of him isthinking of a rosy future as he dreamily looks up at a marvellously star-filled sky.Poulenc's score to which he returned and completed in 1945 is for a narrator and a Piano so written that the individualsections offer the pianist a number of self-contained descriptive pieces such as a Lullaby a Reverie a Galop a Nocturne and so on. Indeed some of Poulenc's finest Piano music isfound in these charming pages.In 1962 Jean Françaix made an orchestral version and Barbar has been enjoyed by children of all ages all over the world. An English translation of the text was made by Nelly Rieu.Thisparticular edition is arranged for Narrator and Piano duet (1 Piano 4 hands) and a separate insert with English translation is included.

This piano duet collection (four hands at one piano) contains a variety of hymns arranged for accomplished church musicians performers or students. Selections include driving rhythmic settings of At Calvary; The Lily of the Valley; and Joyful Joyful We Adore Thee contrasted with the more sedate and serene arrangements of Beneath the Cross of Jesus; Be Thou My Vision;and Nearer My God to Thee. In addition the volume includes a sparkling carol medley Christmas Joy which will be useful in myriad occasions—from church services to school Christmas programs to December recitals and concerts. Arranger Frank Milholland’s extensive band and orchestra background shinesthrough in this keyboard collection as the duets often seem to suggest their own orchestration.