BaL 11.05.19 - Poulenc: Concerto for Two Pianos

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

09.30
Building a Library: Tom McKinney picks a favourite from among the available recordings of Poulenc’s Concerto for two pianos.
Francis Poulenc, darling of the most fashionable French aristocratic salons, described himself as ‘wildly eclectic’, an epithet that exactly fits his 1932 Concerto for two pianos. With its combination of influences including Stravinsky, Balinese gamelan and music-hall, the Concerto’s moods range from zany slapstick in the outer two movements to, in the middle Larghetto, a heartfelt homage to Mozart, the composer Poulenc preferred above all others.


Available versions:-


Robert Fizdale, Arthur Gold, New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein *

Katia and Marielle Labèque, Wiener Philharmoniker, Semyon Bychkov

Katia and Marielle Labèque, Wiener Philharmoniker, Semyon Bychkov (DVD/Blu-ray)

Martha Argerich, Alexander Gurning, Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, Erasmo Capilla

Bracha Eden, Alexander Tamir, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Sergiu Comissiona *

François-René Duchable, Jean-Philippe Collard, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, James Conlon

Martha Argerich, Nicholas Angelich, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Myung-Whun Chung (DVD)

Eric Le Sage, Frank Braley, Orchestre Philharmonique de Leige, Stéphane Denève *

Jacques Février, Francis Poulenc, Paris Conservatoire Orchestra, Pierre Dervaux

Pascal Rogé, & Sylviane Deferne, Philharmonia Orchestra, Charles Dutoit

Alice Mullen, Ruth Currie, Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, Herman Felber, Jr. *

Louis Lortie, with Hélène Mercier, BBC Philharmonic, Edward Gardner

Jean-Bernard Pommier, Anne Queffelec, City of London Sinfonia, Richard Hickox *

Claire Chevallier, Jos van Immerseel, Anima Eterna Brugge

***Güher and Süher Pekinel, Gérard Soufflard, Robert Fontaine, Geneviève Amar & Éric Levionnais
Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Marek Janowski *

GrauSchumacher Piano Duo,, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Brad Lubman

Sviatoslav Richter, Elisabeth Leonskaja, Latvian National Symphony Orchestra, Peter Magi

Mona Bard, Rica Bard,Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie & Rheinland-Pfalz, Ariane Matiakh

Marielle Labèque, Katia Labèque, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Seiji Ozawa

Güher & Süher Pekinel

Bizjak Piano Duo: Sanja & Lidija Bizjak, Stuttgarter Philharmoniker, Radoslaw Szulc

Roland Pöntinen, Love Derwinger, Malmö Symphony Orchestra, Osmo Vänskä

Quattro Mani, Colorado Summer Festival Orchestra, Scott Yoo

Sun Yingdi, Song Siheng, China Philharmonic Orchestra, Long Yu

[Bryn]

Now that's what I call a twofer!

I think I only have the composer's own recording. Just the one copy.

[Pulcinella]

The versions conducted by Conlon, Dervaux, and Hickox here, together with one by Prêtre, presumably nla: Monte Carlo Phil with Tacchino and Ringelssen as the 'twofer'.

[MickyD]

I have the Anima Eterna/Immerseel/Chevallier recording - must give it another play soon, I've forgotten what it's like. Poulenc must be one of the latest composers to get the HIPP treatment!

[MrGongGong]

I heard the Labèque's play this in Verbier a few years ago
bonkers and wonderful (but do I mean the piece , the playing, the players or ? )

[BBMmk2]

I have the Argerich/Nicholas Angelich, and the Pasacal Rogé /Sylvaine Derferne recordings. Both very much liked.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I have the Anima Eterna/Immerseel/Chevallier recording - must give it another play soon, I've forgotten what it's like. Poulenc must be one of the latest composers to get the HIPP treatment!

In the Twofer Piano Concerto, perhaps, Micky - but don't they use a replica 18th Century Harpsichord in the Concert Champetre, rather than the monster 20th Century Pleyel instrument of the sort that Landowska (and Poulenc himself) played, and that Poulenc was writing for?

(Even further OT, and perhaps another Thread, but the latest composition to get the HIPP treatment in my collection [other than recordings made by the original performers] is a 2000 recording of Carter's Sonata for Flute, Oboe, 'cello, and Harpsichord from 1952, in which special care has been taken to track down and use exactly this sort of Harpsichord.)

I'm very fond of this piece, and look forward to reading Forumistas' recommendations and comments.

[Barbirollians]

Sounds like a ghastly twofer in the making - have Argerich & Gurning at Lugano - outstanding and enough for me .

[Pulcinella]

Sounds like a ghastly twofer in the making - have Argerich & Gurning at Lugano - outstanding and enough for me .

I'm not sure I'd want a DVD of this performance!


PS: Listening to the Hickox version now, having had the Conlon on previously.
Discovered another version on the shelves too: a BBC MM CD (incorrect/mismatched track recording details) with Anne Queffélec, Frank Braley, BBCNOW, Grant Llewellyn.

[MickyD]

In the Twofer Piano Concerto, perhaps, Micky - but don't they use a replica 18th Century Harpsichord in the Concert Champetre, rather than the monster 20th Century Pleyel instrument of the sort that Landowska (and Poulenc himself) played, and that Poulenc was writing for?

(Even further OT, and perhaps another Thread, but the latest composition to get the HIPP treatment in my collection [other than recordings made by the original performers] is a 2000 recording of Carter's Sonata for Flute, Oboe, 'cello, and Harpsichord from 1952, in which special care has been taken to track down and use exactly this sort of Harpsichord.)

I'm very fond of this piece, and look forward to reading Forumistas' recommendations and comments.

Yes, ferney, upon re-hearing, the old pianos work very well in the two piano concerto, but you are right about the Concert Champêtre. Reading the programme notes, Immerseel rather shoots himself in the foot by saying that the Pleyel harpsichord played by Landowska is 'unsuitable' and thus opts for a copy of an 18th century instrument. That seems rather arrogant and an anachronism for someone who is such a stickler for authenticity.

[BBMmk2]

Sounds like a ghastly twofer in the making - have Argerich & Gurning at Lugano - outstanding and enough for me .

I have that recording too!

[Pulcinella]

It IS a twofer.

[DracoM]

Switched off. Went to utube to hear it. V.satisfying.

[Master Jacques]

I have at least five versions of this work (I say "at least" as there may be others lurking around two-piano compilation CDs!) including TK's two finalists.

I have to admit that, if it weren't part of Eric Le Sage's 6-CD box on RCA Red Seal, I'd have jettisoned his version (with Braley, Deneve and the Liege orchestra) some time ago. It is all done with surgical precision, but it seems to me much too fast, and scarcely engages with the music in any pleasurable way. Perhaps TK should have taken his nose out of the score more often for this BaL, as (charmingly aware of the fact) he kept dissing musical imagination and affectionate warmth in favour of clear recording and musical accuracy - fair enough, but I for one don't trust this result, from personal experience!

The one I go back to most often, for what it's worth, is the Supraphon version with Vlastimil Lejsek, Věra Lejsková, and the Brno State Philharmonic Orchestra under Miloš Konvalinka (rich, fuzzy and completely lovable, suggesting depths which other versions do not reach). Though I'd be happy with Rogé, Dutoit et al. also.

[LeMartinPecheur]

Was there really no mention at all of the Duchable, Collard/ Conlon, the only one on my shelves? It's in Alpie's list, and in my last Penguin Guide (2009) it got their exceptional 4-star rating, as did TMcK's winner today.