Faculty Recital by Michel Debost and Monique Duphil to Showcase Works on Flute and Piano by Les Six, on Sunday, February 20, 3 P.M., in Kulas Recital Hall. Story by Claire Chase Monique Duphil photograph by Ramon Owens Michel Debost photograph by Herbert Ascherman
			"Les Six," the group of young composers from Paris of the 1920's, will provide the musical focus for the faculty recital of Michel Debost, professor of flute, with his French colleague Monique Duphil, professor of piano, slated for Sunday, February 20, at 3 p.m. in Kulas Recital Hall. The performance is free and open to the public. "As an indication of my old, old age," says Debost with a chuckle, "I knew all of the composers of Les Six, with the exception of Durey. And Durey was one Monique knew, so between the two of us we have them covered. I am wit to a bunch of dead people, and I suppose I'm waiting for my turn!" remarks Debost with characteristic jovial fatalism. He adds, "Les Six was formed after WWI, during a time when people were relieved that the war was over, and an active artistic life rejuvenated all of Europe. Les Six was comprised of Taillefaire, a woman of simple, poetic style; Honegger, who wrote the famous "Danse de la Chevre;" Auric of the Paris Opera; Durey who later moved to the south of France; Poulenc and Milhaud, both friends of mine." Initiated in 1920, Les Six was dedicated to recasting the arts of Paris in a new spirit of simplicity and structure which paralleled the work of Picasso and Braque, the music of Satie, and the poems of Cocteau and Apollinaire. The six young composers were assembled, somewhat serendipitously, when the well-known French critic Henri Collet published an article in the Comoedia (1920) entitled "Five Russians and Six Frenchmen." Not knowing that this particular phrase would generate such worldwide attention, the young journalist suddenly became the arbiter of a new era. Overnight, "Les Six" was born, and six composers found themselves comrades. Through the years, various members - notably Durey, who in 1923 publicly seceded from the group - resented the association with their colleagues. In a 1947 memoir entitled "Notes Without Music," Milhaud, too, intimated his skepticism of the group: "Auric and Poulenc were partisans of Cocteau's ideas, Honegger dervied from the German Romantics, and I from Mediterranean lyricism!" But for the most part, Collet's journalistic sobriquet served to inspire six complimentary, if different, young composers to greater individual and collaborative heights. "The formation of Les Six helped to draw the bonds of friendship closer between us," wrote Milhaud in a memoir. "For two years we met at my place every Saturday evening. Paul Morand would make the cocktails and then we would go to a little restaurant at the top of the Rue Blanche. We were not all composers, for our members included performers, painters and writers...Out of these meetings, in which a spirit of carefree gaiety reigned, many a fruitful collaboration was to be born." Debost explains, "Taillefaire's music is simple, poetic and yet eludes the usual rubbish. Poulenc, everyone knows well. I was very close to him, and played many times with him. I played for Milhaud, too, when I was a student at the Conservatoire. Auric worked at the Paris Opera. I listened to Honegger speak when I was a young man, and I had my copy of Danse de la Chevre that I had intended to have him autograph after a concert, but then I decided this was tacky. I was fortunate, though, to have musical relationships with all of them." Regarding his collaboration with Duphil, Debost speaks of a distinct French connection. "As French folks, we sort of have a grammar for this music, and we've played together many, many times, as a duo as well as in our trio Amici. Monique has a flair for this music, and she can put anything together in a second. She's terrific."
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