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Track(s) taken from CDA67255/6

Villanelle for piccolo and piano

composer
1934

The Nash Ensemble
Recording details: January 1999
Henry Wood Hall, London, United Kingdom
Produced by Andrew Keener
Engineered by Antony Howell & Julian Millard
Release date: November 1999
Total duration: 1 minutes 40 seconds
 

Reviews

‘An altogether first-class collection of Poulenc's very individual chamber music output played with real sensitivity … outstanding performances. The whole issue wins my enthusiastic recommendation: it bids fair to become the undisputed yardstick for the future’ (Gramophone)

‘A set which will surely and deservedly be popular’ (BBC Music Magazine)

‘Thoroughly excellent’ (The Observer)

‘Entrancing. It's hard to select the choicest treasures from this jewel box of Poulenc's most witty and vivacious, hauntingly melodic and touchingly heartfelt music, especially when it is played with such effervescence and devotion as here. The two masterpieces are the Sextet for Piano and Winds (1932) and the delectable "Mozartian" Trio for Piano, Oboe and Bassoon, played with dashing elan and soulful lyricism by the pianist Ian Brown and the Nash's brilliant wind principals. Richard Watkins's long-breathed account of the moving Elégie in memoriam Dennis Brain (1957) and Paul Watkins's noble-toned playing of the Cello Sonata (1940/48) are exceptional. But there is rapture, elation, zany high spirits in all of this music, dazzlingly played by the Nash Ensemble. Buy, buy, buy!’ (The Sunday Times)

‘It would be hard to imagine more consistently on-target presentations of Poulenc’s chamber music or more appropriate sound reproduction. Highly recommended’ (Fanfare, USA)

‘Thirteen pieces lovingly brought to life by the Nash Ensemble. For once, the word 'jewel-box' for the CD container sounds about right’ (BBC CD Review)

‘Those who treasure performances of this music should hear this recording to discover the insights which the very best of today's musicians bring to these scores’ (Classical Express)
Whilst the composition of more extended movements like those of the Trio was often spread over a number of years, smaller pieces posed Poulenc fewer problems. One such was the Villanelle for piccolo and piano, printed in Pipeaux 1934 – a brainchild of the indefatigable Australian Louise Dyer whose Oiseau-Lyre Paris publications contained seven similar trifles for pipes by Parisian composers of the time.

from notes by Felix Aprahamian © 1999

Si la composition de mouvements prolongés comme ceux du Trio s’étendit souvent sur plusieurs années, l’écriture de pièces plus modestes s’avéra moins problématique. Ainsi en alla-t-il pour la Villanelle pour piccolo et piano, imprimée in Pipeaux 1934 une idée de l’infatigable Australienne Louise Dyer, dont les publications de l’Oîseau-Lyre recelaient plusieurs bagatelles pour pipeaux, dues à des compositeurs parisiens de l’époque.

extrait des notes rédigées par Felix Aprahamian © 1999
Français: Hypérion

Während die Komposition von umfangreicheren Sätzen wie denen des Trios oft mehrere Jahre in Anspruch nahm, bereiteten kürzere Stücke Poulenc weniger Probleme. Ein solches Stück war die Villanelle für Pikkoloflöte und Klavier, die in Pipeaux 1934 abgedruckt wurde – dem Geistesprodukt der unermüdlichen Australierin Louise Dyer, deren Publikationen bei Oiseau-Lyre Paris sieben ähnliche Bagatellen für Flöte von Pariser Komponisten der damaligen Zeit enthielten.

aus dem Begleittext von Felix Aprahamian © 1999
Deutsch: Anne Steeb/Bernd Müller

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