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Technical Notice
| Classical Composer: | Poulenc, Francis |
|---|---|
| Work: | Organ Concerto in G Minor, FP 93 |
| Year Composed: | 1938 |
| Instrumentation: | org, timp, str |
| Publisher: | Deiss & Crépin |
| Duration: | 00:21:00 |
| Period: | 20th Century |
| Work Category: | Concerto |
Work Information
Available Recording(s)
Poulenc's Organ Concerto, scored for organ, timpani and strings, was written in response to a commission from Princesse Edmond de Polignac, to whom the work is dedicated. He was busy with the work by 1936 and it was eventually completed two years later, to be first performed in June 1939 at the Salle Gaveau in Paris by Maurice Duruflé, with the Paris Symphony Orchestra under Roger Désormière. The concerto, with inevitable Baroque associations in its very conception, is in a series of connected movements and sections. The work starts with a slow introductory section, opened by the soloist with a firm statement of the key of G minor. This Andante finds a place for lyrical elements in the string-writing and for the ominous in the timpani. There follows an Allegro giocoso, which has about it an air of dramatic menace, with the soloist offering a series of scale passages. The ensuing Andante moderato, with its antiphonal dialogue between soloist and orchestra, moves through gently lilting figuration to an imposing conclusion, introducing an Allegro, molto agitato. Here the dramatic urgency of the Allegro giocoso returns, to be replaced by a gently lyrical section, marked Très calme, lent. The mood and tempo of the earlier Allegro giocoso returns, followed by those of the slow introduction, here including a moving solo for muted viola and a brief muted comment from solo cello, accompanied by organ chords, over a sustained tonic pedal, supported by the timpani, and the plucked notes of the rest of the strings. The final bars, marked fortissimo and leading to a concluding quadruple forte, assert the tonality of G, without the third of the chord to indicate the mode, although the implication remains that of the minor key.
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