E.Power Biggs plays Poulenc Organ Concerto

This is a very nice recording, despite the drubbing Biggs took from the Gramophone reviewer of the time, who apparently had a horror of interestingly registered color and anything that, as he writes, might "ipater (sic) les bourgeois." I assume he means "épater" (amaze or impress) , but he in any event ends up revealing a good deal about his own shabby snobbery.

I guess I am one of that horrid bourgeois (without, however, enjoying the pedestrian, creature comforts that implies), because Biggs has always been my favorite organist. I do not find most organ playing very interesting; Biggs makes it very interesting, undoubtedly by appealing to my philistine musical sensibilities. So be it. I will add to my musical boorishness by recommending highly this wonderful piece by Poulenc, and the glorious recording of it made by Biggs and Burgin on the Aeolian Skinner organ in Boston's Symphony Hall.

The Franck recordings presented here are among the most satisfying performances I have heard of the works, and the sound is very good for the era, which was capable of producing quite wonderful recordings.

The Poulenc was recorded in 1948 and issued on a Columbia 78 set; Biggs and Burgin performed the symphony at that time in Symphony Hall, Boston, which makes me suspect that the Columbia Symphony, in this instance, is in fact the BSO, which was under contract with RCA. The Franck was first issued in 1950 on this LP, Columbia ML 4329

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Louis Kaufman & Artur Balsam: Poulenc Violin Sonata First Recording

Here is the first recording of this work, with revisions to the score made by the composer in preparation for it. My copy is a two record 45rpm boxed Capital set in pretty decent condition, and I apologize for less than seamless joining of breaks between the sides. On the LP version the work was coupled with the Hindemith Sonata Op. 11 No. 2 , played by the same two performers. I have that in a 45rpm box, too, and will be adding it to this post shortly.

The performance emphasizes the angularities of the piece without losing credibility in the more lyrical passages, which are many. The Suk/Panenka, by comparison, the only other recording I am really familiar with, is slower (the first mvt. coming in at 6'30" as opposed to Kaufman/Balsam at 5'41") and generally more romantic. If you are like me, it is hard to resist Suk's silky tone and lush vibrato, and Suk/Panenka together are so musically attuned to each other that it's almost uncanny. But Kaufman and Balsam give this music a refreshing edge to which Poulenc, who apparently worked with them on the project, may have given his approval. All that aside, it is a very nice performance for its own sake, avoiding sentimentality, but not without feeling. The guitars simulation in the slow movement has a real Spanish flair lacking in the Suk reading, an especially affecting touch once one understands how well known as a balladeer Garcia Lorca was. A Gramaphone reviewer in 1950 was unduly harsh on poor Poulenc, apparently expecting a more hysterical, grief stricken tribute, but the review is an interesting document. It should be pointed out that the dedication "to the memory of Garcia Lorca", a victim of Franco fascists allied to the Nazis,was not entirely without risk in occupied France, where Poulenc spent the war.

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