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Tuesday, August 25, 2020

Francis Poulenc; Charles Koechlin - Couleurs (Artur Pizarro; Thomas Rösner)


Information

Composer: Francis Poulenc; Charles Koechlin
  • (01) Poulenc - Sinfonietta, FP 141
  • (05) Poulenc - Piano Concerto in C-sharp minor, FP 146
  • (08) Koechlin - Vers la Voûte Étoilée, Op. 129
  • (09) Koechlin - Sur les Flots Lointains, Op. 130

Artur Pizarro, piano
Bamberg Symphony Orchestra
Thomas Rösner, conductor

Date: 2020
Label: Odradek
https://www.odradek-records.com/album/couleurs/

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Review

Thomas Rösner’s new recording with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra presents two works each by a pair of 20th-century French composers whose posthumous reputations continue to grow. The earliest of these are Charles Koechlin’s symphonic poems Towards the Vault of the Stars and On the Distant Waves. Both date from 1933, though neither was performed or published until decades after the composer’s death. Francis Poulenc is represented by two post war works: Sinfonietta, commissioned by the BBC and premiered by the Philharmonia Orchestra in October 1948, and the Piano Concerto, composed for the Boston Symphony and premiered there by Poulenc and Munch in 1950.

Artur Pizarro is the soloist in Poulenc’s Piano Concerto, a work that offers little in the sort of conventional virtuoso display that has made both the Organ Concerto and the Concerto for Two Pianos so enduringly popular. Pizarro seems delighted to meet the score on its own terms, turning in a performance of considerable sensitivity and subtlety. Together with Rösner and the Bambergers, he achieves a genuine expressive symbiosis punctuated with disarming earnestness in the opening Allegretto. The Andante’s ethereal delicacy is at once alluring and the perfect set up for the piquant, bumptious Rondeau à la française.

The Sinfonietta, Poulenc’s largest purely orchestral work, is the antithesis of the understated concerto. The wind and brass choirs have ample opportunity to strut their stuff and do so with distinction. The whole orchestra acquits itself magnificently in terms of speed, agility and beautifully blended ensemble. Rösner’s focus on the phrase is inerrant and the musicians respond with gorgeously contoured shapes that never miss their mark.

The qualities of ensemble that conjure Poulenc’s bright palette are equally successful in the more diffuse, shaded sonorities of Koechlin. Despite pleasurable immersion in these foggy textures, with Rösner as guide, we never lose our way. It’s a pleasure to hear the orchestra sounding so fine.

-- Patrick Rucker, Gramophone

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Francis Poulenc (7 January 1899 – 30 January 1963) was a French composer and pianist. A member of group Les Six, Poulenc had a reputation, particularly in his native country, as a humorous, lightweight composer, and his religious music was often overlooked. During the 21st century more attention has been given to his serious works. Among his best-known compositions are Trois mouvements perpétuels (piano suite, 1919), Les biches (ballet, 1923), Concert champêtre (1928), Organ Concerto (1938), Dialogues des Carmélites (opera, 1957), and Gloria (for soprano, choir and orchestra, 1959).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Poulenc

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Charles Koechlin (27 November 1867 – 31 December 1950) was a French composer, teacher and writer on music. Koechlin was enormously prolific. He was highly eclectic in inspiration and musical technique, and his music was distinct from his contemporaries. He was a passionate enthusiast for such diverse things as medieval music, The Jungle Book of Rudyard Kipling, Johann Sebastian Bach, film stars (especially Lilian Harvey and Ginger Rogers), traveling, stereoscopic photography and socialism. Despite his lack of worldly success, Koechlin was apparently a loved and venerated figure in French music.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Koechlin

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Artur Pizarro (born 1968 in Lisbon) is a Portuguese pianist of international acclaim. Pizarro began his early piano studies in Lisbon with Campos Coelho. At age five, he began studying with Sequeira Costa, and continued working with him until 1990. Pizarro also worked with other teachers, including Aldo Ciccolini. He performs internationally in solo recitals, in duos, with chamber music groups, and as a soloist with the world's leading orchestras. Pizarro has an extensive discography available on Linn Records, as well as on Naxos, Hyperion, Collins Classics, and other labels. He is a Yamaha-International Artist.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artur_Pizarro

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Thomas Rösner (born June 12, 1973 in Mödling) is an Austrian conductor. He studied at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, and attended master classes with Ilya Musin, Myung-Whun Chung and Hans Graf. Rösner worked as assistant to Fabio Luisi and Hans Graf, before becoming chief conductor of the Sinfonie Orchester Biel Solothurn (2005-11). He is also the founder and artistic director of the Beethoven Philharmonie. Rösner's repertoire mainly focuses on Viennese classic, especially Mozart's operas, Beethoven's symphonic work, German Romanticism and 20th century.
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_R%C3%B6sner
http://www.thomasroesner.com/

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4 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. I love Poulenc but don't know his Sinfonietta; Koechlin is an absolute favourite and I am keen to compare these performances with those I have in my collection - both older recordings.
    Thank you for this treasure!
    Martin

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  3. Can you re-up please, Thanks.

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