Rarities of Piano Music, Husum 2009, vol. 21

Jonathan Plowright
Collectors of this series who enjoyed Jonathan Plowright’s performance of Francis Poulenc’s Soirées de Nazelles on the 2003 CD (DACOCD 619) will be
delighted to find another Poulenc work of major length here. Aubade was commissioned by the Vicomte and Vicomtesse de Noailles and was first performed at a fancy-dress party in 1929. It was originally written for piano and eighteen instruments and can be performed either as a ballet or a concert work. The solo version was made by the composer, adapting his two-piano score. The ballet concerns the legendary huntress Diana, who is condemned to a life of chastity. She is introduced by three sections: a fanfare, a Toccata and a Recitative. Her Rondeau dance, with a typically wistful Poulenc melody, begins at 4:45, developing into a passionate fortissimo. Her servants prepare her toilette in a Presto passage beginning at 7:44, after which she dances a “Variation” based on a passage from a Mozart divertimento (12:14). A final fast passage, Allegro féroce, beginning at 15:05, further depicts Diana’s despair, before slow passages conclude the action and she waves farewell to the accompaniment of repeated solemn chords.