# Poulenc, Roussel



## Guest (Oct 27, 2016)

Prompted by the recent post about the Dolly Suite (irresistible) (http://www.talkclassical.com/showthread.php?t=45966&p=1142332&viewfull=1#post1142332) I hunted down two other French composers I was introduced to when I was looking for Satie and bought this album back in '78.

View attachment 89732


They're not much discussed lately, though they both have entries in the Composer Guestbook section, but started by someone back in 2009 now banned, so responding there seems somewhat inappropriate.

Small, perfectly-formed pieces of music, with sometimes odd melodies and humour.

Anyone else a fan?


----------



## Kivimees (Feb 16, 2013)

A fan of both, but particularly Roussel.

The Spider's Banquet and his symphonies complement his chamber music.

(Nice art work on that CD or LP by the way.)


----------



## WaterRat (May 19, 2015)

I like Roussel.

I almost got into Poulenc once. Just as he almost had me he slipped through my grasp, poor chap.

Of _Les Six_ I prefer Honegger and Milhaud.


----------



## Dim7 (Apr 24, 2009)

I like Poulenc's piano concerto (not the double piano concerto so much), flute sonata and oboe sonata.


----------



## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

I like the Poulenc Concerto for Two Pianos and the Concerto for Organ, Tympani, and Strings. I need to pay more attention to Roussel.


----------



## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

The "Laudamus te" from Poulenc's _Gloria_ never fails to put me in a good mood.


----------



## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

Poulenc and Roussel are both excellent composers - 
Poulenc esp for his chamber music - some great stuff for woodwinds:
Sextuor - Piano/WW 5tet, and Trio - Pno/Oboe/Bassoon

Roussel wrote some fine orchestral works in addition to chamber music -

Sym #3 is very fine, and has benefited from some first-rate recordings:

Bernstein/NYPO/CBS, and
Munch/CSO [archival set CSO in 20th Century]

Roussel also composed Bacchus and Ariane Suites - Martinon/CSO made a stunning recording of this back in the 60s.


----------



## Sonata (Aug 7, 2010)

I like Poulenc a lot. His chamber music for winds, I second what Heck said. I also really enjoy his sacred music.
Roussel, I own his complete chamber music set but he hasn't really done much for me yet. It may be simply a feature that I have more music than I know what to do with. I do love French classical music, I might queue him up this week.


----------



## isorhythm (Jan 2, 2015)

I'm a huge fan of Poulenc - in addition to the chamber music and concertos, his sacred music is often overlooked.


----------



## Kivimees (Feb 16, 2013)

isorhythm said:


> I'm a huge fan of Poulenc - in addition to the chamber music and concertos, his sacred music is often overlooked.


True enough - but things get rather crowded in the 20th century. It's extremely difficult not to overlook.


----------



## Sonata (Aug 7, 2010)

Kivimees said:


> True enough - but things get rather crowded in the 20th century. It's extremely difficult not to overlook.


Crowded in the 20th century? I almost feel the opposite, that there is SO much earlier music considering the great bulk's composed by the big names Bach, Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven. that it takes a long time to get to the "lesser names". and while there are big names in the 20th century, none quite as big or quite as prolific, that it's easier to cover a greater number of these later guys


----------



## Guest (Oct 27, 2016)

I'd just say that it's easy to overlook altogether. While I'm listening to Poulenc, I'm not listening to Auric. When I'm listening to Milhaud, I'm not listening to Takemitsu, when I'm listening to Beethoven's Sonatas, I'm not listening to his Quartets...and these are just the folks on my list, never mind those that aren't!


----------



## PlaySalieri (Jun 3, 2012)

Sonata said:


> Crowded in the 20th century? I almost feel the opposite, that there is SO much earlier music considering the great bulk's composed by the big names Bach, Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven. that it takes a long time to get to the "lesser names". and while there are big names in the 20th century, none quite as big or quite as prolific, that it's easier to cover a greater number of these later guys


Maybe you are right - in the Elliot Carter thread most of the pro Carter people recommended maybe 1 or 2 works, or three to newcomers. It is no easy feat to limit that to so few with the classical masters.


----------



## Chronochromie (May 17, 2014)

stomanek said:


> Maybe you are right - in the Elliot Carter thread most of the pro Carter people recommended maybe 1 or 2 works, or three to newcomers. It is no easy feat to limit that to so few with the classical masters.


Or maybe they just recommended the more accessible works?


----------



## Kivimees (Feb 16, 2013)

Sonata said:


> Crowded in the 20th century? I almost feel the opposite, that there is SO much earlier music considering the great bulk's composed by the big names Bach, Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven. that it takes a long time to get to the "lesser names". and while there are big names in the 20th century, none quite as big or quite as prolific, that it's easier to cover a greater number of these later guys


Perhaps poor wording on my part. My meaning was that earlier music is dominated by - as you say - "big names". "Overlooking" one particular work is no big deal, because they have many other works which are not. Later composers, being more abundant and less prolific can more readily have a really impressive work "overlooked". This can affect our impressions of that composer. isorythm's mention of Poulenc's sacred music served as a reminder (to me) not to forget how good a composer Poulenc is.


----------



## Chronochromie (May 17, 2014)

Poulenc is one of my favorite 20th century composers. His operas, concertos, choral music, chamber works, piano works, songs...so many masterpieces.

Roussel is an interesting one, some of his orchestral and chamber works are excellent, I'm interested in exploring him further. I remember Mahlerian liking his symphonies, I'll have to try those.


----------



## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

MacLeod said:


> I'd just say that it's easy to overlook altogether. While I'm listening to Poulenc, I'm not listening to Auric. When I'm listening to Milhaud, I'm not listening to Takemitsu, when I'm listening to Beethoven's Sonatas, I'm not listening to his Quartets...and these are just the folks on my list, never mind those that aren't!


I have the same problem. The only time I can listen to two or more composers at the same time is when I'm listening to PDQ Bach.

Poulenc usually seems like a sweet dessert rather than a hearty meal. Nothing wrong with that, of course. I chanced upon _Dialogues of the Carmelites _on radio, and, not knowing what I was listening to, found the music rather insubstantial and unmemorable. I do enjoy his _Concerto for Organ and Strings_. Roussel I find sort of nice but elusive, and I need to hear more of him.


----------



## Sonata (Aug 7, 2010)

Woodduck said:


> I have the same problem. The only time I can listen to two or more composers at the same time is when I'm listening to PDQ Bach.
> 
> Poulenc usually seems like a sweet dessert rather than a hearty meal. Nothing wrong with that, of course. I chanced upon _Dialogues of the Carmelites _on radio, and, not knowing what I was listening to, found the music rather insubstantial and unmemorable. I do enjoy his _Concerto for Organ and Strings_. Roussel I find sort of nice but elusive, and I need to hear more of him.


Carmelites didn't do much for me either, I prefer his other work rather than his opera.


----------



## Pat Fairlea (Dec 9, 2015)

Glad to see these two getting some consideration. 

I'm a big fan of Poulenc's work though, to be frank, I think he was at his best with small ensembles or solo instruments. Like Ravel, he experimented with different combinations of instruments and showed real skill in balancing tones and 'voices'.
Roussel's solo piano music is mostly wonderful. As with Poulenc, I'm less keen on his larger format works.

Did someone mention Darius Milhaud? He wrote some fine chamber music too.


----------



## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

*Poulenc* (1899 - 1963) delightful. *Roussel* (1869 - 1937) serioso. Both essential.

Two favorite recs. :tiphat:


----------



## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

For me I find Poulenc somewhat like Stravinsky in that both wrote some stunningly beautiful music, that doesn't seem like it has much 'inner content'. (Stravinsky's quote about music not expressing anything I think is very interesting because to me he seemed oblivious as to how to express anything in his music - other than a certain aesthetic perfection which he was arguably the greatest of all time at, as well as his impressive variety of styles.)

Despite their lack of 'inner content' (as far as my perceptions go) I still very much enjoy a lot of the music of both the above composers. 

I cannot remember anything about the music of Roussel, so I will soon have to refresh my memory.


----------



## Orfeo (Nov 14, 2013)

I like them both immensely: Roussel for his symphonies (the first is my favorite of them), ballets "Bacchus et Ariane" and "Le Festin De L'Araignee", and Suite in F, and Poulenc for his operas, piano works, and concerti (the one for piano duet is simply wonderful, Ravel-like in its arresting subtleties).

Poulenc's operas are really well worth knowing. While there are those who are not (totally) sold on "Dialogues des Carmelites", I actually find it gripping. I think "Le Voix Humaine" is Poulenc probably at his most poignant while "Les mamelles de Tirésias" has a nice wit to it (and with plenty of charm).


----------



## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

tdc said:


> I cannot remember anything about the music of Roussel, so I will soon have to refresh my memory.


I listened to Roussel's Symphony No. 2 yesterday and I thought it was pretty good.


----------



## Kivimees (Feb 16, 2013)

tdc said:


> I listened to Roussel's Symphony No. 2 yesterday and I thought it was pretty good.


Likewise!............


----------



## Guest (Oct 28, 2016)

tdc said:


> I listened to Roussel's Symphony No. 2 yesterday and I thought it was pretty good.


Whose version ?


----------



## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

MacLeod said:


> Whose version ?


It is from the Naxos disc with Stephane Deneve and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.


----------



## superhorn (Mar 23, 2010)

I'm a big fan of Roussel ; Poulenc's music is very pleasant and tuneful but much of it seems lightweight and rather precious and even mincingly cute compared to Roussel, whose music has a lot more meat and substance .
Roussel's exotic opera/ballet "Padmavati " is the greatest opera you've never heard ; a very rarely performed operatic masterpiece which takes place in India about a thousand years ago during the Mogul conquest . Roussel had actually spent time visiting India and he was able to evoke ancient India as no other composer had before . It has a much more authentic Indian feeling than than such entertaining but faux Indian French operas as Lakme and The Pearl Fishers . 
"Padmavati " is like no other opera you've ever heard . You can hear a printed recording of a live concert performance from London with Jean Martinon , a pupil of Roussel conducting on youtube.
If you can find the superb EMI studio recording with Marilyn Horne, Nicolai Gedda and Jose van Dam and Michel Plasson conducting, grab it !
(My autocorrect changed Martinon into martini !).


----------



## D Smith (Sep 13, 2014)

Poulenc and Roussel are two of my favourite composers, perhaps because I was exposed to them at an early age. One of the first works I really got into was the Spider's Feast on a record conducted by Serge Baudo. I heard Poulenc's ballet Les Biches on the radio and was immediately captured enough that I wrote then name down of this then unknown to me composer (I was 16) and tracked down the recording, which I still have (George Prete conducting). For anyone wanting to get to know these composers I'd recommend Rouser's Third Symphony and the Spider's Feast and almost any of Poulenc's chamber music which is bright, witty and full of joy or his Gloria.


----------



## scott777 (Oct 9, 2016)

My favourite peice of Roussel is Symphony 2; I feel it's rather underrated.


----------



## manyene (Feb 7, 2015)

Poulenc's later music has a bitter-sweet quality that I find very appealing and reveals a real sensitivity often lacking in his early, rather brittle, works


----------



## superhorn (Mar 23, 2010)

Oops. I meant a "PIRATED recording of Roussel's "Padmavati ". Darn that autocorrect !


----------

