Poulenc, Britten, Debussy: Concerto for 2 Pianos, Scottisch Ballad, Suite

Featuring

Leonora Armellini
Mattia Ometto
Luigi Piovano
Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto
Francis Poulenc
Benjamin Britten

Claude Debussy

Did you know?

1/7

Instruments

Luigi Piovano, the conductor on this album, plays a 1710 Alessandro Gagliano cello.

Compositional Technique

Poulenc's Concerto for two Pianos and Orchestra incorporates a wide range of influences, from Javanese gamelan and Mozart to children's nursery rhymes and primitive percussion.

Composer Biography

Benjamin Britten's Scottish Ballad, Op. 26, composed in 1941 during his American years, was part of his exploration of folk music and reflected his desire to return to the United Kingdom.

Composition History

Claude Debussy's recently rediscovered Première Suite d'orchestre was likely written between 1882 and 1884, existing in both orchestral and piano four-hands versions.

Composition History

Francis Poulenc's Concerto for two Pianos and Orchestra was composed in the summer of 1932 for the Festival of the International Society for Contemporary Music in Venice.

Notable Performances

The premiere performance of Poulenc's Concerto for two Pianos and Orchestra featured Poulenc himself and Jacques Février at the pianos, with Désiré Defauw conducting La Scala orchestra.

Performer Biography

Pianist Leonora Armellini won the Janina Nawrocka Prize for 'extraordinary musicality and the beauty of sound' at the F. Chopin International Piano Competition in Warsaw in 2010.