BaL 24.06.23 - Poulenc: Piano Concerto in C sharp minor

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

10.30 am
Building a Library: Jeremy Sams chooses his favourite recording of Poulenc's Piano Concerto.

The tuneful, energetic Piano Concerto in C sharp minor is the last of Poulenc's five concertos. It was commissioned in 1949 by the Boston Symphony Orchestra to restore relations between Poulenc's native Paris and America after World War II. After the Boston premiere the composer attributed the lack of enthusiasm to the idea that the audience had listened to too much Sibelius. He was clearly experiencing a culture clash because he also wrote: "I lead an austere existence in this very Puritan town." But it is classic Poulenc, with quirky tunes including a cheeky quote from “Way down upon the Swannee River” in the finale.

Available recordings:

Mark Bebbington, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Jan Latham-Koenig

François-René Duchâble, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, James Conlon *

Christian Ihle Hadland, Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Thomas Søndergård

Louis Lortie, BBC Philharmonic, Edward Gardner

Cristina Ortiz, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Louis Frémaux

Cécile Ousset, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Rudolf Barshai *

Cécile Ousset, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Sir Simon Rattle

Artur Pizarro, Bamberger Symphoniker, Thomas Rösner

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

Pascal Rogé, Philharmonia Orchestra, Charles Dutoit *

Pascal Rogé, London Chamber Orchestra (LCO), Christopher Warren-Green

Eric Le Sage, Orchestre Philharmonique de Leige, Stéphane Denève

Gabriel Tacchino, Paris Conservatoire Orchestra, Georges Prêtre *

Alexandre Tharaud, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Yannick Nézet-Séguin

Florian Uhlig, Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern, Pablo González

(* = download only)

[Barbirollians]

24th ? 25th is a Sunday ?

I only have Ortiz but I have always been happy with it . Martha Argerich has played the two piano work - shame she did not turn her hands to this .

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

24th ? 25th is a Sunday ?

Oops! That’s because I got the information from the Sunday programme ‘Record Review Extra’. There’s no reference to it on the actual review date. The webpage may be faulty, but so was I

Edit: the webpage has caught up with reality - at last.

[Pulcinella]

Three of those listed on the shelves here:

François-René Duchâble, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, James Conlon *
Jean-Bernard Pommier, City of London Sinfonia, Richard Hickox *
Gabriel Tacchino, Paris Conservatoire Orchestra, Georges Prêtre * (given the rather more splendid orchestral designation 'Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire' in the 20-CD Erato Œuvres completes set).

Given the apparent ability to cover ALL of William Byrd in one BaL, I would have thought it made more sense to include the 2-piano concerto and Aubade in this one.

[Pulcinella]

Bumping this thread in anticipation of tomorrow: not much interest it would appear.

[Nick Armstrong]

François-René Duchâble, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, James Condon

A long cherished recording, it ticks all the boxes for me: often taken on southern holidays - this music says Mediterranean, seagulls and cocktails to me

[CallMePaul]

Bumping this thread in anticipation of tomorrow: not much interest it would appear.

Sadly I will have to miss this as an urgent situation has cropped up. I have to admit that I have never heard this piece so I was looking forward to listening. Maybe I can catch up on Sounds and/or listen to the winner on Sunday evening.

[Pulcinella]

An interesting article here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piano_Concerto_(Poulenc)

I particularly liked the background:

The tuneful, energetic concerto was commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra to restore relations between Paris, Poulenc's hometown, and the United States after the Second World War. It was premiered by the BSO with Charles Munch conducting and the composer at the piano on 6 January 1950, but was not particularly well received. It was noted that there was "more sympathy than real enthusiasm," which the composer attributed to the notion that the audience had listened to too much Sibelius. One critic wrote in Le Figaro: "Certainly it isn’t a concerto at all but a little picture of manners, done up by a minor master." But Poulenc wrote: "I lead an austere existence in this very Puritan town."

And here's a general article about C sharp minor. The list of piano concertos (admittedly saying 'include') curiously does not mention the Poulenc.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C-sharp_minor

Nick: I'm not sure how/why Conlon became Condon in the text you quoted. From their reaction, maybe the Bostonians had had too many whisk(e)y sours instead of Mediterranean cocktails.

[Master Jacques]

An interesting article here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piano_Concerto_(Poulenc)

I particularly liked the background:



And here's a general article about C sharp minor. The list of piano concertos (admittedly saying 'include') curiously does not mention the Poulenc.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C-sharp_minor

It does now, Pulcinella!

[Pulcinella]

It does now, Pulcinella!

[visualnickmos]

Bumping this thread in anticipation of tomorrow: not much interest it would appear.

Indeed; somewhat surprising, but maybe I'm biased, as I am a recent 'convert' to the work of Poulenc, and loving the journey.

[Master Jacques]

Jeremy Sams, as usual, noticed a lot, had plenty to say, and said it entertainingly. But his clichéd, gossipy similes congealed into (to my mind) a condescending caricature of the work, and of the composer's biography. More to the point, his final choices weren't terribly convincing.

Still, I've learned that we should all be worried by the cultural appropriation of "Way Down Upon the Swanee River" in the last movement; and that Mr Sams (of all people) finds Mark Bebbington "a little bit too English" in the 1st movement. Pots and kettles, Jeremy, pots and kettles!

[Mal]

The winner is difficult to find on Spotify. There are several concertos on the disk, and the key isn't given. Wikipedia gives the catalogue number as FP 146, and Spotify gives a catalogue number of the first piece as S 146 - so I guess this is it! (Why S instead of FP?) Further (circumstantial) evidence - second movement of the first piece is flagged as "andante con moto", which Andrew mentioned.

[Historian]

The winner is difficult to find on Spotify. There are several concertos on the disk, and the key isn't given. Wikipedia gives the catalogue number as FP 146, and Spotify gives a catalogue number of the first piece as S 146 - so I guess this is it! (Why S instead of FP?) Further (circumstantial) evidence - second movement of the first piece is flagged as "andante con moto", which Andrew mentioned.

I believe it may be after Carl B Schmidt who published his catalogue (now with FP as the prefix) in 1995, however there will be someone better informed who will elucidate further.

[Pulcinella]

The winner is difficult to find on Spotify. There are several concertos on the disk, and the key isn't given. Wikipedia gives the catalogue number as FP 146, and Spotify gives a catalogue number of the first piece as S 146 - so I guess this is it! (Why S instead of FP?) Further (circumstantial) evidence - second movement of the first piece is flagged as "andante con moto", which Andrew mentioned.

If Spotify follows the order on the CD, you can find it here:

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8077182--poulenc-piano-concertos-aubade

I wasn't persuaded by it, in terms of both performance and sound: surprisingly dim for Chandos, I thought.