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Poulenc Concertos
Francis Poulenc

Norwegian Radio Orchestra

Poulenc Concertos

Price: € 19.95
Format: CD
Label: Lawo Classics
UPC: 7090020181950
Catnr: LWC 1173
Release date: 28 June 2019
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Label
Lawo Classics
UPC
7090020181950
Catalogue number
LWC 1173
Release date
28 June 2019
Album
Artist(s)
Composer(s)
EN

About the album

POULENC, PROPHET OF IMMEDIACY
Francis Poulenc (1899–1963) 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 (1908–1992) and Pierre Boulez (1925–2016) were into innovative rhythms, scales and techniques to lift the music out of the realm of subjective emotionalism. One of Poulenc’s most splendid works, Gloria, from 1959, was composed two years after Boulez’s third piano sonata. The two works have nothing in common other than that they both consist of notes and belong to what is called the European music tradition. What’s more, I am reasonably certain that Gloria has many more listeners than the third piano sonata of Boulez, quite simply because this melodious choral work is more accessible.

And accessible was what Poulenc wanted to be. One composer he looked to as a source of inspiration was Stravinsky, especially his neoclassical works from the 1920s. Here we are talking about pieces such as Pulcinella and The Fairy’s Kiss, as well as his Octet for Wind Instruments. Poulenc has been quoted as saying that if not for Stravinsky, he might not have been a composer at all. An exaggeration to be sure, but the similarities are apparent. Both can be called neoclassicists in the sense that they adopted baroque and classical forms with clear linearity in the melody and a lucid form with an underlying tonality. But Stravinsky composed his neoclassical works in quotation marks, as the Danish music critic Hansgeorg Lenz put it. By this he meant that Stravinsky was, stylistically speaking, extremely self-assured. He played with his forms and shunned personal expression, even though we hear it is Stravinsky, no matter which compositional mask he dons. In one way or another, Poulenc is there too, but only in part. Both break with the pathos of Romantic music, with its fervor and self-expression. Yet, while Stravinsky’s style is the manifestation of a strong will — i.e. he laid bare the distance between the forms he used and the actual sound of the compositions — this distance is more difficult to discern in Poulenc. He composed largely without a mask, without distance. He became a kind of prophet of immediacy. In a way he simply wished to entertain, and now and then to shock, something most composers wanted to do in 1920s Paris. And he was at this time also one of a group of young composers known collectively as “Les Six”, for whom the French poet, filmmaker and playwright Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) was something of an ideologue and Erik Satie (1866–1925) a kind of father figure. In his book Le Coq et l’Arlequin (1918), Cocteau criticizes, among other things, the melancholy of German music (Beethoven, Wagner) and asserts that the plain and simple is concentrated complexity, i.e. depth. This fits much of Poulenc’s music with its distinct melodies, formal clarity, and not so very complicated harmonies. Poulenc emphasized that he was not a harmonic innovator; neither was he, as he said, afraid to “use other people’s chords.” This clarity of form and expression can also be found in a number of the choral works, written after Poulenc had converted back to Catholicism in the mid-1930s. Here, for example, I am thinking of the Mass in G Major (1937), Figure humaine (1943) and Stabat Mater (1950). To these can be added his operatic masterpiece, Dialogues des carmélites (1956). These are works that engage us at a deeper level than his instrumental pieces, which are often much more garrulous and concertizing. Something revealed, to a great degree, on this release.

If we include Aubade (1929) for piano and eighteen instruments, Poulenc can be said to have composed five concertos. If, however, we ignore the aforementioned Aubade, and, likewise, Concert campêtre (1928) for harpsichord and orchestra, those that are left can be found on this album. Among them, the Concerto for Organ, Strings and Timpani (1938) is considered to be the most popular of the three, and, perhaps, the most serious. It has different qualities from, for example, the piano concerto. As the composer himself joked, it showed “a Poulenc on his way to joining a monastery.” Is it perhaps a kind of Te Deum without text? In any case, Poulenc counted it among his religious works, and regarded it as one of the most important. And because he wanted to use the organ for all it was worth, he listened to many organists in Paris, especially Marcel Dupré. Poulenc’s concerto was premiered by another authority within the French organ school, Maurice Duruflé, who also helped Poulenc with the registration. For Poulenc wanted musical punch and nuance from this instrument, which is an orchestra unto itself. At the same time, he broke with the classical three-movement structure of the other two concertos on this album. The organ concerto is divided into seven parts, which blend into each other. In that respect, it resembles the multi-movement Aubade, but with more baroque associations. Music historian Paul Griffiths wonders whether the gravity of the organ concerto is explored as a possible mode of expression, or whether the seriousness is genuinely intended. Difficult to say, of course, but is it perhaps precisely this ambivalence that gives the work its strength? There are some slow passages here, more meditative, with elements of chromaticism, while others, such as the “main theme” itself, Allegro giocoso, are much more expressive and virtuosic. The concerto achieves this effect of doubleness through its brilliant, concertizing form.

The Piano Concerto (1949) in three movements differs somewhat in its range of expression. There is not much ambivalence to speak of. The concerto was commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, with Poulenc himself as soloist. He decided to compose a “light concerto, a souvenir from Paris for a composer-pianist”, hence, for himself. And light it is, and a wellspring of musical ideas, more or less brutally juxtaposed. Here we have striking melodies, as the opening theme in the first movement, or the lyrical theme in the second. But in the middle of the first movement, for example, he turns up the Romantic pomposity, with heavy chords and fiery brass. The last movement is pure concertizing. The piano part is varied, the orchestral movement as well. In The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians we read that the concerto “demonstrates the dangers of sectional, ‘surrealist’ techniques of composition.” The observation is correct, but it is also this technique that makes the concerto so witty. There is no compositional consequence. The concerto is not “organic”, which is the opposite of sectional. Everything is simply linked together into the grand display of a concerto.

The Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra (1932) lies perhaps somewhere between these two. It was premiered in Venice with the La Scala orchestra, and with Poulenc and his friend, Jacques Février, as soloists. Is this the concerto that comes closest to Stravinsky, i.e. that is music in quotation marks? The American composer Elliott Carter called the concerto “a pastiche consisting of music from Scarlatti, Mozart, Schumann, Charbrier on up to Stravinski and popular singers.” But he thought it sounded convincing on account of “Poulenc’s unbelievable sensitivity to harmonies and orchestral sounds.” Here once more there is no form of thematic development; rather a juxtaposition of different passages. It is perhaps in the slow movement that Poulenc really composes in quotation marks. The movement opens with a stylistic imitation of what almost could have been a slow movement in a piano concerto of Mozart (Romanze in KV 466?), another of Poulenc’s favourite composers, before going its own way, melodically, harmonically and rhythmically. With that, the historic distance is sounded, in purely musical terms. The quotation marks are in place. So, too, the music.

– EGIL BAUMANN

Artist(s)

Norwegian Radio Orchestra

The Norwegian Radio Orchestra is known as “the whole land’s orchestra” and is today regarded with a unique combination of re­spect and affection by its music-loving public. With its remarkably diverse repertoire, this is no doubt the orchestra most heard through­out the land – on the radio, television, and online, and at various diverse venues around the country.   It is a flexible orchestra, performing all from symphonic and contemporary classical mu­sic to pop, rock, folk, and jazz. Each year the orchestra performs together with internation­ally acclaimed artists at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert, which is aired to millions of viewers worldwide. Those with whom the orchestra has collaborated in recent years include the Kaizers Orchestra, Mari Boine, Jarle Bern­hoft, Diamanda Galàs,...
more
The Norwegian Radio Orchestra is known as “the whole land’s orchestra” and is today regarded with a unique combination of re­spect and affection by its music-loving public. With its remarkably diverse repertoire, this is no doubt the orchestra most heard through­out the land – on the radio, television, and online, and at various diverse venues around the country.
It is a flexible orchestra, performing all from symphonic and contemporary classical mu­sic to pop, rock, folk, and jazz. Each year the orchestra performs together with internation­ally acclaimed artists at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert, which is aired to millions of viewers worldwide. Those with whom the orchestra has collaborated in recent years include the Kaizers Orchestra, Mari Boine, Jarle Bern­hoft, Diamanda Galàs, Renée Fleming, An­drew Manze, Anna Netrebko, and Gregory Porter.
The Norwegian Radio Orchestra was found­ed by the Norwegian Broadcasting Corpora­tion in 1946. Its first conductor, Øivind Bergh, led the ensemble in a series of concerts from the broadcasting company’s main studio, es­tablishing the basis of its popularity and se­curing its status as a national treasure. The orchestra continues to perform in the context of important media events. It is comprised of highly talented classical instrumentalists and yet its musical philosophy has remained the same: versatility, a light-hearted approach, curiosity for all kinds of music, and an un­willingness to pigeonhole musical styles. Petr Popelka is currently the orchestra’s Chief Conductor.

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Thomas Søndergård (conductor)

The Danish conductor Thomas Søndergård (b. 1969) arrived on the classical music scene as a sensation in 2005 when he conducted the opera “Kafka’s Trial” of his fellow countryman Poul Ruders. Four years later he became Chief Conductor and artistic consultant of the Norwegian Radio Orchestra (2009–2012). He went directly from there to become Chief Conductor of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales for six seasons. At the time of writing he is artistic director for the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. In addition to his positions of leadership during these ten years, he has been a much sought-after conductor for the world’s leading orchestras. With his confident style, breadth of perspective and unfailing sense of detail, he has command of...
more
The Danish conductor Thomas Søndergård (b. 1969) arrived on the classical music scene as a sensation in 2005 when he conducted the opera “Kafka’s Trial” of his fellow countryman Poul Ruders. Four years later he became Chief Conductor and artistic consultant of the Norwegian Radio Orchestra (2009–2012). He went directly from there to become Chief Conductor of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales for six seasons. At the time of writing he is artistic director for the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. In addition to his positions of leadership during these ten years, he has been a much sought-after conductor for the world’s leading orchestras. With his confident style, breadth of perspective and unfailing sense of detail, he has command of the great symphonic classics, yet he has at the same time been highly successful with the very latest contemporary works (confirmed by earlier Norwegian Radio Orchestra releases on the LAWO Classics label). Dating back as far as his time as timpanist with the Royal Danish Orchestra, Søndergård has had a special fondness for incidental music and opera, and he is in frequent demand as conductor for the leading opera stages, including the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet.

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Peter Szilvay (conductor)

Peter Szilvay (b. 1971) is an energetic and charismatic conductor and a notable interpreter of new music, a significant amount of which he has premiered and recorded. He is also one of a growing number of versatile conductors who learned their trade from inside the orchestra. After working as a professional viola player, Szilvay served as Assistant Conductor to Mariss Jansons at the Oslo Philharmonic and later held the same position at the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra. He has since conducted a string of illustrious ensembles including the St Petersburg Philharmonic, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and the Royal Danish Orchestra.   In his native Norway, Szilvay has worked with KORK (The Norwegian Radio Orchestra), the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, the Arctic and...
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Peter Szilvay (b. 1971) is an energetic and charismatic conductor and a notable interpreter of new music, a significant amount of which he has premiered and recorded. He is also one of a growing number of versatile conductors who learned their trade from inside the orchestra. After working as a professional viola player, Szilvay served as Assistant Conductor to Mariss Jansons at the Oslo Philharmonic and later held the same position at the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra. He has since conducted a string of illustrious ensembles including the St Petersburg Philharmonic, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and the Royal Danish Orchestra.
In his native Norway, Szilvay has worked with KORK (The Norwegian Radio Orchestra), the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, the Arctic and Bergen Philharmonic Orchestras and the Trondheim and Kristiansand Symphony Orchestras. He continues to enjoy a close relationship with the Oslo Philharmonic and the Stavanger Symphony Orchestras, and has conducted the Oslo, Trondheim, Bodø and Arctic Sinfoniettas and the BIT20 Ensemble in Bergen. Peter’s professional reputation in Sweden has led to invitations to conduct the Gothenburg, Malmö and Umeå Symphony Orchestras.
Szilvay is an experienced opera conductor and has worked on staples of the German and Italian operatic repertory. He has led productions at Den Norske Opera & Ballett, Nordnorsk Opera, Opera Sør and at the Mainfranken Theater in Würzburg, Germany.
In 2011, Szilvay was recognized for his work with contemporary music when the Norwegian Society of Composers awarded him their Artist Prize. He has conducted over 160 premieres and has recorded new music with the Oslo Philharmonic and with the Norwegian Army and Navy Bands. With The Norwegian Radio Orchestra, he made the first recordings of the complete symphonies of Edvard Fliflet Bræin. He has recorded Finn Mortensen's "Symphony Op. 5" with Stavanger Symphony Orchestra and Eivind Groven's two symphonies with Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra. He has also pioneered orchestral music by Jon Øivind Ness and Lene Grenager which was recorded for the Simax and Aurora labels respectively.

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Håvard Gimse (piano)

Håvard Gimse is firmly established as one of Norway’s leading musicians, with a bold and expansive repertoire, and an impressive list of thirty piano concertos he has performed. Gimse is in frequent demand as both soloist and chamber musician, and as concert artist he has toured throughout Scandinavia and appeared abroad with the Baltimore, Tokyo and Birmingham Symphony Orchestras, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, among others. His strong affinity for Scandinavian music, and Norwegian music in particular, has made him one of the leading recording artists in this arena. Gimse has been the recipient of the Grieg Prize (1996) and the Sibelius Prize (2004), and he has been honoured with a Diapson...
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Håvard Gimse is firmly established as one of Norway’s leading musicians, with a bold and expansive repertoire, and an impressive list of thirty piano concertos he has performed. Gimse is in frequent demand as both soloist and chamber musician, and as concert artist he has toured throughout Scandinavia and appeared abroad with the Baltimore, Tokyo and Birmingham Symphony Orchestras, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, among others. His strong affinity for Scandinavian music, and Norwegian music in particular, has made him one of the leading recording artists in this arena. Gimse has been the recipient of the Grieg Prize (1996) and the Sibelius Prize (2004), and he has been honoured with a Diapson d’Or and with Gramophone’s Critics Choice.
Håvard Gimse has performed on many of the world’s most prestigious concert stages, including Carnegie Hall in New York City, Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. As chamber musician he regularly gives guest performances at Wigmore Hall in London. In the course of Gimse’s longstanding collaboration with Norwegian cellist Truls Mørk, the two artists have toured together in Japan, Italy and the USA.
Scandinavian appearances in 2015-2016 have included a critically acclaimed performance of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, an extensive Norwegian concert tour devoted to Beethoven, and concerts at the Norwegian National Opera. He has also performed at the Bergen International Festival and appeared as soloist with the Gothenburg Symphony.

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Christian Ihle Hadland (piano)

Christian Ihle Hadland has estab­lished himself as a true craftsman of the piano, a musician whose del­icate, refined playing and individu­al touch have led him to the most prestigious stages in the world.   Christian came to international at­tention in 2011 as a BBC New Gen­eration Artist. As an NGA he per­formed with all four of the BBC’s symphony orchestras and broad­cast solo and chamber recitals for the corporation in London. He also made his debut at the BBC Proms in London where he was praised by critics for his ‘pearly’ and ‘oth­erwordly’ sound.   Christian was born in Stavanger in 1983 and received his first pian lessons at the age of eight. At the age of eleven he entered the Ro­galand Music Conservatory,...
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Christian Ihle Hadland has estab­lished himself as a true craftsman of the piano, a musician whose del­icate, refined playing and individu­al touch have led him to the most prestigious stages in the world.
Christian came to international at­tention in 2011 as a BBC New Gen­eration Artist. As an NGA he per­formed with all four of the BBC’s symphony orchestras and broad­cast solo and chamber recitals for the corporation in London. He also made his debut at the BBC Proms in London where he was praised by critics for his ‘pearly’ and ‘oth­erwordly’ sound.
Christian was born in Stavanger in 1983 and received his first pian lessons at the age of eight. At the age of eleven he entered the Ro­galand Music Conservatory, and in 1999 began lessons with Pro­fessor Jiri Hlinka, both privately and at the Barratt Due Institute of Music in Oslo. He made his profes­sional concerto debut at the age of 15 with the Norwegian Radio Orchestra (KORK). He has since performed with all the major or­chestras in Scandinavia including the Swedish Radio and Danish National Symphony Orchestras, and the Royal Stockholm, Helsinki and Oslo Philharmonics and the Swedish Chamber Orchestra. In the UK he has appeared as a so­loist with the Hallé Orchestra, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Manchester Camerata, in ad­dition to his work with the BBC orchestras.
Christian is highly sought after as a chamber musician. He has been Artistic Director of the Interna­tional Chamber Music Festival in Stavanger, his hometown, since 2010 and is a frequent guest at Wigmore Hall. Christian has per­formed at the BBC Proms Cham­ber Music Series and in 2015 gave a three-week tour of Australia with the Australian Chamber Orchestra and mezzo soprano Susan Gra­ham. In 2006, he performed with soprano Renée Fleming at the No­bel Prize Award Ceremony in Oslo.

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Kåre Nordstoga (organ)

Kåre Nordstoga is considered to be one of the foremost concert organists in Europe. He made his debut in 1978 in Oslo Cathedral, where he became Assistant Organist in 1984, and taught for a time at the Norwegian Academy of Music before becoming the cathedral’s full-time Organist in 1994. Nordstoga has released several solo recordings and has participated in a number of releases. As a highly valued accompanist and soloist, he regularly collaborates with some of Norway’s best-known musicians, and is invited to give solo performances on the largest and most renowned organs in Europe. In 2016 Nordstoga was appointed by His Majesty The King of Norway as a Knight (first class) of the Royal Norwegian Order of St Olaf...
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Kåre Nordstoga is considered to be one of the foremost concert organists in Europe. He made his debut in 1978 in Oslo Cathedral, where he became Assistant Organist in 1984, and taught for a time at the Norwegian Academy of Music before becoming the cathedral’s full-time Organist in 1994. Nordstoga has released several solo recordings and has participated in a number of releases. As a highly valued accompanist and soloist, he regularly collaborates with some of Norway’s best-known musicians, and is invited to give solo performances on the largest and most renowned organs in Europe. In 2016 Nordstoga was appointed by His Majesty The King of Norway as a Knight (first class) of the Royal Norwegian Order of St Olaf for his contribution to Norwegian church music.

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Composer(s)

Francis Poulenc

Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc was a French composer and pianist. Poulenc's wealthy family intended him for a business career in the Rhone Poulenc family company and did not allow him to enrol at a music college. Largely self-educated musically, he studied with the pianist Ricardo Viñes, who became his mentor after the composer's parents died. Poulenc soon came under the influence of Erik Satie, under whose tutelage he became one of a group of young composers known collectively as Les Six. This group of French composers from the 1920s aimed to clear music of the impressionism of Claude Debussy, and German influences such as the Romanticism of Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss. Their motto was 'L'art pour l'art': they composed music for the sake of...
more
Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc was a French composer and pianist. Poulenc's wealthy family intended him for a business career in the Rhone Poulenc family company and did not allow him to enrol at a music college. Largely self-educated musically, he studied with the pianist Ricardo Viñes, who became his mentor after the composer's parents died. Poulenc soon came under the influence of Erik Satie, under whose tutelage he became one of a group of young composers known collectively as Les Six. This group of French composers from the 1920s aimed to clear music of the impressionism of Claude Debussy, and German influences such as the Romanticism of Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss. Their motto was "L'art pour l'art": they composed music for the sake of music, without any 'meaning' or extramusical intents. In his early works Poulenc became known for his high spirits and irreverence. During the 1930s a much more serious side to his nature emerged, particularly in the religious music he composed from 1936 onwards, which he alternated with his more light-hearted works.

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