CCLXXVI. POULENC, Francis: Sonata for Flute and Piano

CCLXXVI. POULENC, Francis (1899-1963)

Sonata for Flute and Piano (1957)
1. Allegro malinconico
2. Cantilena
3. Presto giocoso
Joséphine Olech, flute
Marcell Szabo, piano
(12:41)

In 1920, the composer/critic Henri Collet published an article entitled The Five Russians, The Six Frenchmen, and Satie.

The Five -- all Russians from the 19th-century were:

1. Mily Balakirev
2. César Cui
3. Modest Mussorgsky
4. Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
5. Alexander Borodin

all St. Petersburgians ...

Les Six -- five Frenchmen and one Swiss, who all worked in the Montparnasse area -- were:

1. George Auric
2. Louis Durey
3. Arthur Honegger
4. Darius Milhaud
5. Poulenc
6. Germaine Tailleferre

Milhaud:

"In completely arbitrary fashion Collet chose the names of six composers ... for no other reason than that we knew each other, that we were friends and were represented in the same programmes, but without the slightest concern for our different attitudes and our different natures. Auric and Poulenc followed the ideas of Cocteau. Honegger was a product of German Romanticism and my leanings were towards a Mediterranean lyrical art ... Collet's article made such a wide impression that the Groupe des Six had come into being."

**

This sonata is a late work, and has gained an esteemed position in the literature for the flute.

First Movement

In just three beats, he moves from E Minor to E Major Seventh to E Minor Seventh. More important than any harmonic movement, is Poulenc's delightful melodic lines -- quirky, sentimental and occasionally profound.

Even melancholy, as Poulenc indicates in the movement's title.

Second Movement

A one-beat canon. Very staid and lyrical. The instructions Doucement baigné de pédale (Pedal gently bathed) brings up an amusing anecdote about Poulenc's studies with Ricardo Viñes:

"He used to rap my shins when I didn't change the pedalling enough."

Third Movement

Exuberant music! He later brings back the "melancholy" theme from the First Movement (red arrow), and ends with a decidedly forceful Presto on an A Major chord!