tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32354680.post8273676410647508882..comments2023-11-03T09:05:31.265-04:00Comments on Soho the Dog: Les anges musiciensMatthewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10936327293692397100noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32354680.post-4799845444988857522007-11-28T04:12:00.000-05:002007-11-28T04:12:00.000-05:00Anyone who dismisses Poulenc for being superficial...Anyone who dismisses Poulenc for being superficial has never heard the extremely moving "Élégie", written in memory of Dennis Brain. It's one of the most harrowing pieces I know.<BR/><BR/>Poulenc also bears the dubious distinction of being the only composers to ever make me guffaw during a live performance. The piece in question was "Chansons gaillardes". With no text to hand for the audience, and being the only one in the crowd, apparently, who understood French, I was reduced to stuffing a glove in my mouth to keep from disrupting the concert. Hysterically funny stuff.Matthew Whittallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10587564978686509794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32354680.post-13546585710637902502007-11-27T22:31:00.000-05:002007-11-27T22:31:00.000-05:00rootlesscosmo: You can probably smooth out a lot o...rootlesscosmo: You can probably smooth out a lot of the sharp edges in the Sextet in performance, but especially compared with other, similar Poulenc pieces, there's a darkness and desperation that always stands out to me. You can get a sense of it in another Poulenc piece, the "Two Poems of Louis Aragon," which I think are from 1942 or so. The first one, "C.", is most definitely a wartime song, in mood and text; but the second, which bears a lot of similarities to the Sextet, is one as well—that forced, end-times gaiety that always comes off as more shrill and pointed than the real thing.<BR/><BR/>It's very possible that I am reading too much into it, but given Poulenc's talent for finding the exact calibration of emotion, whenever I sense a certain mood in his music, I always assume it's there for a reason. (Of course, part of the greatness of that piece is that it's everything you say, as well.)<BR/><BR/>Michael: I nearly included something about that "Fleurs" ending—for those who don't know it, it's one of his most ethereal songs, a wash of D-flat Major pastels, almost a parody of his sensuous style—and then he ends it, out of the blue, on D-flat minor. A joke? A portend? Hard to say—but again, it comes with the sense of absolutely meaningful rhetoric.Matthewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10936327293692397100noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32354680.post-34625248238388542882007-11-27T20:15:00.000-05:002007-11-27T20:15:00.000-05:00I needed to find a few 30-60 second self-contained...I needed to find a few 30-60 second self-contained musical pieces with a beginning, middle and end for a huge video project, and nothing was working until a friend lent me a 2-CD set of Poulenc's piano works. The more I listened to each piece, the more I began to admire Poulenc's genius for miniatures. The composer he most recalled, in fact, was Haydn who has a similar wit and sanity about him.Civic Centerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12362422142667230626noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32354680.post-41315034527562680822007-11-27T19:57:00.000-05:002007-11-27T19:57:00.000-05:00I'd vote for Sanglots as absolutely the most beaut...I'd vote for Sanglots as absolutely the most beautiful ever.Rodney Listerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16485567377686864129noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32354680.post-3096451601294740122007-11-27T18:55:00.000-05:002007-11-27T18:55:00.000-05:00I was going to post this on your earlier Poulenc r...I was going to post this on your earlier Poulenc review, but... I honestly don't hear the foreknowledge of bad times in the Sextet (which I've played--the piano part.) Maybe I'm shallow, but I think it's fun: gorgeous, charming, sexy, exuberant, farcical, aren't-we-chic fun. I love the piece, the Trio, the Flute Sonata, Dialogues des Carmelites, and Fiancailles pour rire (how can you resist a text like "my cadaver is soft as a glove"?) but I think maybe you're reading history back into the Sextet, rather than finding it there.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32354680.post-91597136883842223012007-11-27T18:44:00.000-05:002007-11-27T18:44:00.000-05:00I completely agree about Poulenc. I think "Fleurs"...I completely agree about Poulenc. I think "Fleurs" (from Fiancailles...) is just about the most perfect song ever, although even there he can't resist ending it with a little wink from the piano. That used to bother me, but I've grown to love that ending as much as the rest of the song.<BR/><BR/>I'm pretty sure those endings you cite are based on the end of Chopin's "Butterfly" etude - it particularly makes sense in the case of "Il vole."MICHAEL MONROEhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16392848296427560715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32354680.post-33210948394350678862007-11-27T17:44:00.000-05:002007-11-27T17:44:00.000-05:00Rorem's the only composer egomaniacal enough to co...Rorem's the only composer egomaniacal enough to collect all his own stylistic tics into one song and call it "For Poulenc." :)<BR/><BR/>I have a Fred Hersch album that includes a jazzy version of the Cantilena from the Flute Sonata with Toots Thielemans playing the solo line on harmonica. Gorgeous.Matthewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10936327293692397100noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32354680.post-68197605276660503402007-11-27T17:40:00.000-05:002007-11-27T17:40:00.000-05:00Guerrieri and RoremSittin' in a tree....Great post...Guerrieri and Rorem<BR/>Sittin' in a tree....<BR/><BR/>Great post. Poulenc's Flute Sonata and other chamber works deserve a wider audience.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11367901003659994894noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32354680.post-35357142715249253502007-11-27T14:59:00.000-05:002007-11-27T14:59:00.000-05:00So now I must listen to some Poulenc. What a life...So now I must listen to some Poulenc. What a life.Rebeccahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00754758286887474609noreply@blogger.com