Poulenc / Jean-Pierre Armengaud - Les Animaux Modeles Les Biches Aubade - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Poulenc wrote two ballets, the suites from which feature on this recording. Fusing together musical styles from various periods and genres enabled him to construct the largely plot-free narrative of 'Les Biches,' a sequence of captivating dances that explore many themes which were considered taboo at the time. In 'Les Animaux modeles,' Poulenc transforms the animals of La Fontain's fables into human characters in a patchwork score brimming with color, wit, and self-borrowings. The 'Sinfonietta' is playful and light-hearted. From it's foundation in 1948 as the Radio Eireann Symphony Orchestra, the RTE National Symphony Orchestra has been at the forefront of symphonic music in Ireland. Today, the RTE National Symphony Orchestra plays a central role in classical music in Ireland through year-long programmes of live performances, schools and educational projects, broadcasts, recordings and new commissions.

Francis Poulenc is not an easy composer to relate to. Not the man himself perhaps- though possibly that too- but his music. It is somehow dated. Here is a composer who produced his best works, all more or less completely tonal, at a time when Arnold Schoenberg was writing twelve-tone music and Poulenc's countrymen Oliver Messiaen and Pierre Boulez were into innovative rhythms, scales and techniques to lift the music out of the realm of subjective emotionalism. This features three concertos by Francis Poulenc. The Concerto for Organ, Strings and Timpani (1938) is considered to be the most popular and, perhaps, the most serious. The Piano Concerto (1949), a light concerto a wellspring of musical ideas, more or less brutally juxtaposed. The Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra (1932) lies perhaps somewhere between these two.

F. Poulenc - Complete Songs 1 [COMPACT DISCS] date 04/26/2011