Soirée Poulenc

An evening entirely dedicated to Francis Poulenc at the Auditorium Parco della Musica, with exceptional musicians: Andrea Oliva on the flute, Francesco Di Rosa on the oboe, Alessandro Carbonare on the clarinet, Francesco Bossone on the bassoon, Guglielmo Pellarin on the horn and Pietro De Maria at the piano.

On program, all masterpieces by the great French composer, such as the Sonata for flute and piano, the Elégie for horn and piano, the Sonata for clarinet and piano, the Trio for oboe, bassoon and piano and the Sextet.

It begins with the Sonata for flute and piano, one of Poulenc's most famous chamber music compositions, written between 1956 and 1957; this is followed by the Elégie for horn and piano, a short work characterized by a single movement and written in those same years, dedicated to the memory of the horn player Dennis Brain, who died in a car accident in 1957. The Sonata for clarinet and piano is part of an unfinished cycle of sonatas for wind instruments: due to his sudden death, Poulenc was able to write only this one for clarinet. Structured on the traditional model of the chamber music genre, the Sonata is full jazz sound suggestions that have made Poulenc's production famous. Composed in 1926, and dedicated to the famous Andalusian composer Manuel de Falla, the Trio for piano, oboe and bassoon is Poulenc's first major success in the chamber sector. The piece, which reflects his predilection for wind instruments, is particularly brilliant in the passages full of rhythm enhancing the sounds of the individual instruments.

It ends with the Sextet written in 1939, in which the wind instruments and the piano are instead in a continuous dialogue and the composer's skill emerges in treating the individual instruments in such a way as to enhance their tonal characteristics. Right from the start, one perceives how Poulenc's music, anti-romantic and anti-impressionist, refers to the popular and lively style of the music hall and cabaret, which were now opening up to a new era.

Photo credits: courtesy of the Auditorium PDM official site