Francis Poulenc wrote chamber music during all phases of his long career, and this complete recording divides his chamber output logically. The sonatas for solo instrument and piano all date from the later part of his career; the Violin Sonata, valued by the performers but oddly disrespected by the CD booklet annotator here, is the earliest, dating from 1943. All these works are together on the first CD; on the second are earlier pieces for various ensembles, along with oddities like the Villanelle for pipe and piano, a ...
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Francis Poulenc wrote chamber music during all phases of his long career, and this complete recording divides his chamber output logically. The sonatas for solo instrument and piano all date from the later part of his career; the Violin Sonata, valued by the performers but oddly disrespected by the CD booklet annotator here, is the earliest, dating from 1943. All these works are together on the first CD; on the second are earlier pieces for various ensembles, along with oddities like the Villanelle for pipe and piano, a fine example of 1930s hypersimplicity originally intended for a homemade pipe but here inexplicably played on a piccolo, which defeats the entire purpose. That's one of the few complaints applicable to this set, which contains several unknown gems along with Poulenc standards like the Flute Sonata, with its entrancing slow movement. Hear the jocular Sonata for horn, trumpet, and trombone of 1922 (CD 2, tracks 6-8). That and other early works show how soon Poulenc's distinctively...
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