BaL 24.06.23 - Poulenc: Piano Concerto in C sharp minor

[vinteuil]

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... much enjoyed Jeremy Sams's enlightening commentary. I was very taken with both the Tharaud and the Uhlig, and a timely small Premium Bond win has found a use...
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[Mal]

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

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

...

Even if Spotify follows the order on the CD it doesn't quite work - Presto actually use S and FP, in two different places, with the works in different orders! Everyone should be using a unique identifier consistently.

I guess the cataloguers changed from S to FP because there are other S catalogues, but that means old CDs will still be using S, and hence you end up with this situation. Maybe if everyone since the new catalogue appeared used S/FP 146 that would get round most problems?

My next thought was, "Why not call it Piano Concerto No.X", as happens with most (all?) other composers. But the problem with Poulenc is defining when exactly a piano concerto is really a piano concerto. For instance, you get sentences like "If we include Aubade (1929) for piano and eighteen instruments, Poulenc can be said to have composed five concertos. If, however, we ignore the aforementioned Aubade, and, likewise, Concert campêtre (1928) for harpsichord and orchestra, those that are left can be found on this album..." So someone's Piano Concerto No. 2 might be someone else's Piano Concerto No.5. Hence you need to include the catalogue number.

[gurnemanz]

I acquired the very appealing Uhlig version quite recently via Brilliant Classics bumper French Piano Concerto compendium. Well-priced in various formats at Presto.

[Pulcinella]

Even if Spotify follows the order on the CD it doesn't quite work - Presto actually use S and FP, in two different places, with the works in different orders! Everyone should be using a unique identifier consistently.

I guess the cataloguers changed from S to FP because there are other S catalogues, but that means old CDs will still be using S, and hence you end up with this situation. Maybe if everyone since the new catalogue appeared used S/FP 146 that would get round most problems?

My next thought was, "Why not call it Piano Concerto No.X", as happens with most (all?) other composers. But the problem with Poulenc is defining when exactly a piano concerto is really a piano concerto. For instance, you get sentences like "If we include Aubade (1929) for piano and eighteen instruments, Poulenc can be said to have composed five concertos. If, however, we ignore the aforementioned Aubade, and, likewise, Concert campêtre (1928) for harpsichord and orchestra, those that are left can be found on this album..." So someone's Piano Concerto No. 2 might be someone else's Piano Concerto No.5. Hence you need to include the catalogue number.

Or the key? C sharp minor is pretty distinctive.


Wiki has a list of compositions by FP number and by genre:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_compositions_by_Francis_Poulenc

And here's the IMSLP list:

https://imslp.org/wiki/List_of_works_by_Francis_Poulenc

Here are the five concertante works (from the Wiki list):

Concert champêtre, for harpsichord and orchestra, (1927–1928), FP 49
Aubade, a "Concerto choréographique" for piano and 18 instruments, FP 51 (1929)
Concerto for two pianos and orchestra in D minor (1932), FP 61
Concerto for organ, strings and timpani in G minor (1938), FP 93
Concerto for piano and orchestra (1949) FP 146

[vinteuil]

I acquired the very appealing Uhlig version quite recently via Brilliant Classics bumper French Piano Concerto compendium. Well-priced in various formats at Presto...

... dang it! I see I shall have to get that box, even as I have just pressed the button to acquire the Uhlig separately -

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8607263--french-piano-concertos

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https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B00BTWE9YG

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[Pulcinella]

... dang it! I see I shall have to get that box, even as I have just pressed the button to acquire the Uhlig separately -

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8607263--french-piano-concertos

.

https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B00BTWE9YG

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I hope you can cancel your original order.
If you get the French box, you'll get another couple of pieces in C sharp minor:

Chaminade: Concertstuck, Op. 40 [in C sharp minor according to the Deezer listing]
Work length 15:50

Rosario Marciano (piano)
Luxembourg Radio Orchestra
Louis de Froment

and

Alkan: Concerto da Camera in C sharp minor Op. 10 No. 2
Work length 8:16

Giovanni Bellucci (piano)
Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto
Roberto Forés Veses

[Bryn]

... dang it! I see I shall have to get that box, even as I have just pressed the button to acquire the Uhlig separately -

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8607263--french-piano-concertos

.

https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B00BTWE9YG

.

The FLACs look to be a real bargain. The QOBUZ listing has some real bloopers. One of the concertos seems to be identified as the combined work of Bartok and Ravel (actually it's the Ravel in G but both composers are cited in relation to it.
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[Pulcinella]

The FLACs look to be a real bargain. The QOBUZ listing has some real bloopers. One of the concertos seems to be identified as the combined work of Bartok and Ravel (actually it's the Ravel in G but both composers are cited in relation to it.
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You should be so lucky! Deezer doesn't even give the composer(s).
But at least the Poulenc works can be identified as they have their FP numbers!

Thankfully, we have the Presto listing to help identify the tracks.

[Master Jacques]

You should be so lucky! Deezer doesn't even give the composer(s).
But at least the Poulenc works can be identified as they have their FP numbers!

Thankfully, we have the Presto listing to help identify the tracks.

I don't know about you, but such is my gratitude to Presto's admirably accurate listings, that I make sure to buy from them regularly (even at a small premium) simply out of gratitude. They care.

I didn't hear anything today to wean me off my Rogé/Dutoit recording of the piece, with Le Sage and Tacchino as outriders.

[Maclintick]

I acquired the very appealing Uhlig version quite recently via Brilliant Classics bumper French Piano Concerto compendium. Well-priced in various formats at Presto.

Great tip, there, Gurnie. Thanks so much. I agree about the Uhlig version, having on your recommendation snapped up the Presto offer -- a chance to acquaint myself with lots of unfamiliar repertoire at 61p per CD in equivalent 44.1/16 FLAC downloads. A terrific bargain.

[Nick Armstrong]

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.

That sums up my reaction very precisely, having just belatedly caught up with the broadcast.

He seemed to be seduced by details (the ‘spice and magic and seasoning’) in the Gardner/Lortie, despite admitting that it doesn’t quite hang together … e.g. all the little unwritten glissandi, which caught the ear in an amusingly camp way at first hearing: fine at a concert but I suspect they might pall on repeat listening. Not convinced it’s a solid library choice but I’ll definitely be listening in its entirety to this reading, ditto the Uhlig, neither of which I’ve heard before.

[Sir Velo]

He seemed to be seduced by details (the ‘spice and magic and seasoning’) in the Gardner/Lortie, despite admitting that it doesn’t quite hang together

I wondered about that at the time, thinking it a decidedly odd thing to say about the overall preferred version, but playing it again I think he was referring to the piece as a whole, which makes more sense.

[Nick Armstrong]

I wondered about that at the time, thinking it a decidedly odd thing to say about the overall preferred version, but playing it again I think he was referring to the piece as a whole, which makes more sense.

No, I certainly understood him to say that the performers’ tempo choices in the first movement were problematic - other extract/s were played which avoided the issue.

[pastoralguy]

I don't know about you, but such is my gratitude to Presto's admirably accurate listings, that I make sure to buy from them regularly (even at a small premium) simply out of gratitude. They care.

[Barbirollians]

No mention of the Ortiz/Fremaux which I find a great deal more convincing than many of his choices- especially The Le Sage and Tacchino.