Poulenc: Piano Works

Poulenc: Piano Works

Poulenc: Piano Works
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Composer: Francis Poulenc
Performer: Pascal Rogé
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2004-10-12
Music Label: Decca
Soundtracks:
  1. Preambule
  2. I. Le Comble De La Distinction
  3. II. Le Coeur Sur La Main
  4. III. La Desinvolture Et La Discretion
  5. IV. La Suite Dans Les Idees
  6. V. Le Charme Enjoleur
  7. VI. Le Contentement De Soi
  8. VII. Le Gout Du Malheur
  9. VIII. L'Alerte Vieillesse
  10. Cadence
  11. Final
  12. I. C Major
  13. II. B Flat Minor
  14. III. E Minor
  15. Pastourelle
  16. I. Assez Modere
  17. II. Tres Modere
  18. III. Alerte
  19. Valse
  20. No. 1 In B Minor
  21. No. 2 In A Flat Major
  22. No.3 In B Minor
  23. No. 6 In B Flat Major
  24. No. 7 In C Major
  25. No. 8 In A Minor
  26. No. 12 In E Flat Major 'Hommage A Schubert'
  27. No. 13 In A Minor
  28. No. 15 In C Minor 'Hommage A Edith Piaf'
  29. I. Pastorale
  30. II. Hymne
  31. III. Toccata

Music reviews of Poulenc: Piano Works

Music Review: BAGATELLES SPIRITUELLES
Rating: 5 Stars

This disc won a Gramophone award in 1988, the citation praising in particular the `tenderness and sensitivity' of the performances. That seems fair to me. I would not call the playing here any exhibition of ultimate refinement in the manner of Michelangeli or of Gould, but this is not music that requires anything of that kind.

The 31 pieces here are very unpretentious. Only one lasts longer than four minutes, and nearly half of them clock out after less than two. The harmony is almost entirely tonal (after some Stravinskyish assertiveness at the start of the very first number), and most of the recital consists of items that seem to have started life as improvisations. Nine numbers go by that title explicitly, and if they don't seem to be one's normal idea of improvisation, having more thematic content than I for one would have expected, that may simply reflect the fact that Poulenc was an outstandingly gifted improviser. The suite Soirees de Nazelles with which Roge opens the recital is reported to have originated in pieces that he improvised at some kind of informal Schubertiads during his residency there, and they also have more substance than show about them.

The sense of improvisation is strengthened in the Nazelles suite by what sounds to me like an unmistakable allusion in the Preamble and again in the Cadence to Bach's Chromatic Fantasia, itself highly improvisatory in manner. Allusiveness in general is another strong characteristic of these works. There is an explicit Homage to Schubert and another to Edith Piaf, for instance. Poulenc was closely associated with Stravinsky, and while I can't hear much of Stravinsky in the three `perpetual motion' works as the liner-note writer tells me I should, I hear him loud and clear in the Preamble to the Nazelles suite. Nor do I think it unduly speculative to detect the influence of Schumann in the finale to the same suite, and while the attractive melody of the Valse may of course be Poulenc's own something leads me to doubt it.

Above all what these miniatures recall to me is Mendelssohn's Songs Without Words. This is not a matter of specific allusions or of the musical idiom, it's just a matter of the overall impression created. They show the same kind of variety and resourcefulness within a fairly restricted range of expression, and the harmonisation is also, with a couple of exceptions, cautious and unadventurous as Mendelssohn's tended to be - there is no experimentation in the manner of Faure, still less that of Debussy or Ravel. For all that, these works have real character and personality, and they are thoroughly agreeable and companionable, even striking a distinctly deeper note in the Pastorale from the Three Pieces. The `variations' in the Nazelles suite are not variations as Franck or Bizet (or any of the German masters) used that expression, more a little collection of miniature tone-poems, and you may be relieved to learn that the three `perpetual-motion' works are hardly that at all - one toccata is quite enough for me. I would rather not get into the topic of the Satie-style names for the `variations', an issue for which `tiresome' would be a restrained characterisation.

Roge's playing suits the music very well. The first `improvisation' and of course the toccata call for a bit of virtuosity, which he is not short of. Otherwise the technical demands seem generally fairly moderate, the real requirement being to capture the intimate and `off-duty' feel of the music which, as the Gramophone critics said, he does very well. The sound comes over very agreeably too, in part through Roge's tactful and sympathetic pedalling, in part from the acoustic, but above all, of course, from the player's touch.

The liner-note is short and fairly basic, but fine as far as it goes. All in all, this is a very pleasant disc that can be commended in good conscience to all but the most ultra-conservative listeners. I am very pleased to have spotted it, and very happy too to endorse the acclamation it was given in 1988.
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