Written by Jean Giono - Performed by Robert J. Lurtsema - Unabridged Fiction - 1 COMPACT DISC - 40 minutes

Publisher, Chelsea Green Publishing (September 1990)

"Giono's famous tale is short, simple, and truly inspirational. You'll never forget it." --The Mother Earth News

The Man Who Planted Trees is the story of Elzeard Bouffier, a man of great simplicity and determination. Bouffier, having lost his wife and son, retreats to a remote and desolate part of France. "It was his opinion that this land was dying for want of trees." So, alone with his dog and his sheep, he commences his life work---the steadfast planting of one hundred acorns each day---which will slowly turn the arid wasteland into a beautifully forested countryside.

Chelsea Green Publishing joined the Paul Winter Consort in the release of this version of the acclaimed audio of the story by Jean Giono. The original music was composed and is performed by the Paul Winter Consort, and the text is narrated by Robert J. Lurtsema, host of Morning Pro Musica.The hero of the story, Elzéard Bouffier, spent his life planting one hundred acorns a day in a desolate, barren section of Provence in the south of France. The result was a total transformation of the landscape-from one devoid of life, with miserable, contentious inhabitants, to one filled with the scent of flowers, the songs of birds, and fresh, flowing water.

"When you remembered that all this had sprung from the hands and the soul of this one man, without technical resources, you understood that men could be as effectual as God in other realms than that of destruction." —from The Man Who Planted Trees

"You know, Giono said to me, there are also times in life when a person has to rush off in pursuit of hopefulness." —Norma L. Goodrich, from the Afterword

"Jean Giono's story of a man's generosity to nature—and through nature, to other humans—surely belongs among the most moving and endearing statements of our hope. The story—vision and parable and manual—correctly opposes the tree-planter, the earth-husband, to the makers of war. In the figure of Elzéard Bouffier, Giono summaries the best that can be said of our species. It has given me much joy to reread this story." —Wendell Berry

About the Author: Jean Giono, the only son of a cobbler and a laundress, was one of France's greatest writers. His prodigious literary output included stories, essays, poetry, plays, filmscripts, translations and over thirty novels, many of which have been translated into English. Giono was a pacifist, and was twice imprisoned in France at the outset and conclusion of World War II. He remained tied to Provence and Manosque, the little city where he was born in 1895 and, in 1970, died.

Giono was awarded the Prix Bretano, the Prix de Monaco (for the most outstanding collected work by a French writer), the Légion d'Honneur, and he was a member of the Académie Goncourt.

Paul Winter and Earth Music Productions bring this powerful story to life with music especially composed and performed by members of the Consort. Narrated by Robert J. Lurtsema, longtime host and executive producer of one of public radio's most popular and innovative music programs, WGBH's Morning Pro Musica. This special recording conveys Elzeard Bouffier's magnificent generosity of spirit in undertaking a work worthy of God.