One of my chief delights is introducing friends to new music. Sure, everybody knows the Beatles and Death Cab and Coldplay and Jack Johnson and Ben Folds and The Fray and 100 other groups I could name. But how many of you know Francis Poulenc?
[sound of crickets chirping as we wait]
That's what I thought. If you don't know this guy, you are seriously missing out. And here's why.
Today is Francis Poulenc's 109th birthday. Now, before you say Why should I care about some dead guy and then click away to your latest Facebook ping, give me just a minute. You might learn something here. After all, you're reading this blog which means you already have above-average intelligence. So indulge me. You might be very glad you did.
Poulenc was an openly gay French composer

Imagine the most moving piece you've ever heard in a General Conference broadcast suddenly breaking open into jazz and ragtime and Broadway show tunes, then back again to deep spirituality. Yet somehow it all fits together wonderfully. That's Poulenc.
So if you have reached a level of maturity sufficient to be comfortable without electric guitars and a throbbing drum beat, and you can actually sit through a piece of music longer than 3 ½ minutes, let me introduce you to the music of Francis Poulenc, one of the 20th Century's greatest composers. I guarantee that he will be remembered and his music will still be played decades and even centuries from now when Coldplay and The Fray and Jack Johnson are footnotes in some obscure encyclopedia.
Here's a sample, in which you will hear some of his sparkling wit and the sudden, unpredictable, and delightful shifts in key and mood that typify his music:
If that delightful piece intrigued you, this one's even better, it runs through the entire range of emotions and mood, from hysterical laughter to sadness to deep contemplation and back again to sparkling playfulness (and notice that the soloists are definitely of the Coldplay and Green Day generation):
So if you have half a brain in your head and would like to hear more of this genius's amazing music, go to Amazon and check out the following titles by Poulenc:
Concerto for Piano & Orchestra
Concerto for 2 Pianos
Gloria
Stabat Mater
Sonata for Flute & Piano
Happy birthday Francis! You are an example and an inspiration to us all. Our world is much better because of your courage and your talent.
Scrum Central now returns to its normal programming of useless navel-gazing and mindless drivel.
3 comments:
I saw Poulenc's Dialogues of the Carmelites at the Met a few years ago. It was unforgettable.
Wow! I didn't know that Poulenc was gay! I played in an orchestra that accompanied the Double Piano Concerto.
Thank you for sharing your love of music and stretching some of us to know and appreciate and be exposed to new and wonderful discoveries.
Please keep the education going!
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