Here is Poulenc's piano concerto in C sharp and concerto for Harpsichord and Orchestra.

The piano concerto was the last of Poulenc's five concertos. While in the first fifteen years of his career Poulenc had made a reputation as a light-hearted composer, personal crises in the late 1930s awakened a dormant religious sensibility. Thereafter, including the war years, he had written music of considerably more seriousness of purpose, but even in them retained his lightness of touch and his ability to charm. After the war ended, restoring communication between Paris and America, the Boston Symphony Orchestra commissioned this piano concerto from Poulenc. It was premiered by that orchestra, conducted by Charles Munch on January 6, 1950, with the composer as soloist.

Now Poulenc returned, for this composition, to his earlier breezy style. The composition is in three movements, each smaller than the previous one; their lengths are about ten, five and a half, and four minutes. The piano is not treated as an individual protagonist against the orchestra, but as a part of the entire ensemble.

The concerto opens with the piano playing one of Poulenc's rhythmic ideas of*faux*gruffness, which is countered by a lovely tune on English horn. The slow second movement is tender, with a sense of some sadness, using a string melody introduced with softly marching rhythms in the horns. The finale is calledRondeau ˆ la Francaise*and is in a very fast tempo. In one of the final episodes a tune appears which has been traced back to*A la claire fontaine,*an old sea chanty dating back to the time of Lafayette. Its first few notes are the same as that of Foster's song "Old Folks at Home" (or "Swanee River"), which some French commentators have mid-identified as a "Negro spiritual." Poulenc blends it, surprisingly, with a Brazilian*maxixe*rhythm.

Concert champ�tre*(Pastoral Concerto) is a*harpsichord*concerto*by*Francis Poulenc, which also exists in a version for piano solo with very slight changes in the solo part.

It was written in 1927–28 for the harpsichordist*Wanda Landowska*who said she "adored" playing it as it made her "insouciant and gay!"*[1]*Landowska was responsible for the composition of several other new pieces of music for the instrument, notably*Manuel de Falla's*harpsichord concerto*and his*El retablo de Maese Pedro*(at the premiere of which, at the salon of*Winnaretta Singer, Poulenc and Landowska met for the first time).

After a private performance in which Poulenc played the orchestral parts on the piano, the piece's public premiere was on May 3, 1929 at the Salle Pleyel in*Paris, with Landowska playing the solo part and the*Orchestre Symphonique de Paris*conducted*by*Pierre Monteux. The work is scored for an orchestra of two*flutes,*piccolo, two*oboes,*cor anglais, twoclarinets, two*bassoons, four*horns, two*trumpets,*trombone,*tuba,*timpani,*side drums*(with and without snares),*tambourine,*triangle,*bass drum,*cymbals,*xylophone, and*strings*(the usual two sections of*violins,*violas,*cellos*and*double basses—Poulenc stipulates eight each of first and second violins, and four each of violas, cellos and basses). It is an expression of Poulenc's somewhat maverick compositional style that he pits the harpsichord against the combined resources of a full orchestra, while in his*Organ Concerto, he balances the much more powerful organ against only timpani and strings.[citation needed]

The piece is in three movements:

Allegro molto – Adagio – Allegro moltoAndante: Mouvement de*SicilienneFinale: Presto tr�s gai

The piece alludes to music of the*Baroque*period, when the harpsichord was a common instrument, both in terms of its melodic and harmonic language and in its structure. It is for this reason, as well as the plain influence of Stravinsky's music of the same period, that the Concert and its slightly later companion work, the*Aubade*for piano and orchestra, are regarded as*neoclassical*compositions.[2]

A typical performance of the*Concert champ�tre*lasts around twenty-five minutes.

Like many harpsichord works from the 20th century, this piece was written for the 'revival'Pleyel*contemporary harpsichord, with metal frame, pedals, leather plectra and heavy touch, which was prevalent at the time, rather than historic instruments from the 17th and 18th century. However,*Trevor Pinnock*has played and recorded it on a 3-manual*Hass*instrument with disposition 16' 8' 8 ' 4' 2', lute, 2 buffs, 2 couplers.[3]

A recording of Poulenc himself playing the work, but on the piano, with the*New York Philharmonic*conducted by*Dimitri Mitropoulos*on 14 November 1948, was issued in 1998 as part of a 10-CD survey of historic broadcast recordings by that orchestra.[4]





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