La Bestiaire

The charming Saint-Saëns and the malicious Apollinaire may be worlds apart, yet their hilarious animal portraits in Le Carnaval des Animaux and Le Bestaire radiate the same satirical genius. Belgian composer Piet Swerts translated the self-evident musicality of the Bestiaire poems into genuine melodies, and he reworked Le Carnaval for clarinet, strings and piano. The acclaimed Roeland Hendrikx Ensemble merges both menageries into an unprecedented chamber music animal farm, revealing both the grand façades and the peculiarities of the normal and not-so-normal creatures that inhabit it.