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