Concertos by Poulenc and Carter

Synopsis

American composer Ned Rorem liked to classify music as being either French or German — by “French,” he meant music that is sensuous, economical and unabashedly superficial; by “German,” he meant music that strives to be brainy, complex and impenetrably deep.

On today’s date the Boston Symphony gave the premiere performances of two important 20th century piano concertos.

The first, by Francis Poulenc, had its premiere under the baton of Charles Munch in 1950, with the composer at the piano. Poulenc’s concerto is a light, entertaining with no pretension to profundity. It is quintessentially “French” according to Rorem’s classification.

The second Piano Concerto, by American composer Elliott Carter, had its Boston premiere in 1967, conducted by Erich Leinsdorf, with soloist Jacob Lateiner. The concerto was written in Berlin in the mid-1960s when the Wall dividing that city was still new. He said he composed it in a studio near an American target range, and one commentator hears the sounds of machine guns in the work’s second movement. Carter compared woodwind solos in the same movement to the advice given by three friends of the long-suffering Job in the Bible.

Needless to say, Rorem would emphatically classify Carter’s concerto as “German” to the max!

Music Played in Today's Program

Francis Poulenc (1899-1963): Piano Concerto; Pascal Roge, piano; Philharmonia Orchestra; Charles Dutoit, conductor; London 436 546

Elliott Carter (1908-2012): Piano Concerto; Ursula Oppens, piano; SWF Symphony; Michael Gielen, conductor; Arte Nova 27773

On This Day

Births

• 1835 - Russian composer César Cui (Gregorian date: Jan. 18)

• 1838 - German composer Max Bruch, in Cologne

• 1850 - German composer and pianist Xaver Scharwenka, in Samter

• 1872 - Russian composer Alexander Scriabin, in Moscow (Julian date: Dec. 25, 1871)

• 1920 - American composer Earl Kim, in Dinuba, California

Premieres

• 1724 - Bach: Sacred Cantata No. 65 (Sie Werden aus Saba alle Kommen performed on the Feast of the Epiphany as part of Bach’s first annual Sacred Cantata cycle in Leipzig (1723/24)

• 1725 - Bach: Sacred Cantata No. 123 (Liebster Immanuel, Herzog der Frommen) performed on the Feast of Epiphany as part of Bach’s second annual Sacred Cantata cycle in Leipzig (1724/25)

• 1735 - Bach: Part 6 (Herr, wenn die Stoltzen Feinde Schnauben) of the six-part Christmas Oratorio, on the Feast of the Epiphany in Leipzig

• 1755 - Karl Heinrich Graun: opera Montezuma (with a French libretto by Frederick the Great) at the Royal Opera House in Berlin

• 1863 - Brahms: Piano Sonata No. 3, in Vienna

• 1888 - Dvorák: Piano Quintet No, 2, in Prague

• 1924 - Ibert: Escales (Ports of Call), in Paris

• 1950 - Poulenc: Piano Concerto, in Boston, by the Boston Symphony conducted by Charles Munch with the composer as soloist

• 1967 - Elliott Carter: Piano Concerto, by the Boston Symphony conducted by Erich Leinsdorf, with Jacob Lateiner the soloist

• 1991 - Michael Torke: Bronze for piano and orchestra, at Carnegie Hall in New York, by the American Composers Orchestra conducted by David Zinman and the composer as the piano soloist

• 1999 - Christopher Rouse: Kabir Padavali for soprano and orchestra, in Minneapolis by the Minnesota Orchestra conducted by David Zinman, with Dawn Upshaw the soloist

• 2000 - Bright Sheng: Red Silk Dance for piano and orchestra, by the Boston Symphony conducted by Robert Spano, with Emanuel Ax the soloist

Others

• 1733 - This notice appears in the Leipzig newspaper Nachtricht auch Frag u. Anzeiger: “Tonight at 8 there will be a Bach Concert at the Zimmermann Coffeehouse on Catharine Street.” This presumably featured secular vocal works, chamber music and concertos performed by the Leipzig Collegium, an ensemble directed by J.S. Bach.