The Gramophone Choice

Piano Concerto. Concerto for Two Pianos*. Aubade

François-René Duchâble, *Jean-Philippe Collard pfs Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra / James Conlon

Warner Apex 2564 62552-2 (55’ · DDD). Buy from Amazon

An appealing bargain collection of Poulenc’s concertante piano music. Duchâble is a stylish player in the Piano Concerto and is joined by Collard for the sparkling Double Piano Concerto – and they find a glorious sense of poise in the languid slow movement. Conlon and his Rotterdam orchestra accompany with panache.

The stylistic inconsistency of the various ­sections of the Aubade (appreciation of which really depends on a knowledge of the story of the ballet for which it was intended) is perhaps the reason for its comparative lack of popularity – it includes Poulenc’s characteristic pianistic ­helter-skelter, ingenuous wistful lyricism, gamin pertness and Stravinskian angularity. 

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