BaL 24.06.23 - Poulenc: Piano Concerto in C sharp minor

[Master Jacques]

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.

A very good point: that used to be a top recommendation, as with Fremaux's CBSO Gloria from that period. I haven't heard either of these performances for years, but they'll surely hold up well.

[Alison]

The Louis Fremaux set is one ICON box that is still available and very worthwhile it is. The complete CBSO recordings.

[Master Jacques]

The Louis Fremaux set is one ICON box that is still available and very worthwhile it is. The complete CBSO recordings.

Thank you Alison ... much pleasure to be had therein, indeed.

[Master Jacques]

Having rooted out my antique 1988 Frémaux/CBSO/Poulenc EMI CD, featuring the Gloria and Les Biches as well as Ortiz in the Piano Concerto, I'm astonished at the quality, both as to recording and performance (though I expect they sound even better, remastered in the ICON box mentioned by Alison).

The years have not diminished it. I don't think this is a case of nostalgia: the Concerto in particular seems to me head and shoulders over more recent versions: there's none of this alleged structural bittiness (which the Gardner/Lortie does fall into), and the work sounds beautiful, logical and surprisingly moving - all the more so for Ortiz's comparatively 'straight' but poetic reading.

Indeed, it's hard to imagine any of these three works better done: the Gloria is magnificent, with one of the most touching and pure soloists (Norma Burrowes) it has ever had - only Kathleen Battle for Ozawa and the Bostonians comes close, I think. And Les Biches, while lacking the flippant wit some classic French versions bring to it, seems ... well, very substantial under Frémaux. One of the great discs, from an underrated master.