This enjoyable Poulenc release from pianist Mark Bebbington, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under Jan Latham-Koenig, and a pair of fine wind players qualifies for the rarities category. True, the Concert Champêtre ("Pastoral Concerto") of 1928 is one of the composer's most familiar works, but what's heard here is not the usual version for harpsichord and orchestra, but one for piano and orchestra. This is certainly not beyond the pale; Poulenc himself not only played this version, he even recorded it in 1948 with the New ...
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This enjoyable Poulenc release from pianist Mark Bebbington, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under Jan Latham-Koenig, and a pair of fine wind players qualifies for the rarities category. True, the Concert Champêtre ("Pastoral Concerto") of 1928 is one of the composer's most familiar works, but what's heard here is not the usual version for harpsichord and orchestra, but one for piano and orchestra. This is certainly not beyond the pale; Poulenc himself not only played this version, he even recorded it in 1948 with the New York Philharmonic. Some listeners may miss the harpsichord, which is the work's most distinctive feature, yet Latham-Koenig and Bebbington manage the key Poulenc trick in the slow movement of delivering lyricism, but not sentimentality. The Piano Concerto of 1950 is probably the least often heard of Poulenc's concertante works. Its eclecticism, ranging from "Swanee River" to the "can-can" to the Brazilian maxixe rhythm, was taken as evidence of slapdash construction, though...
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