Ripe for Reissue: Eric Le Sage Plays Poulenc Stupendously

Poulenc: Complete Solo Piano Music; Complete Chamber Music; Piano Concertos (incl. Concerto for Two Pianos and Aubade). Eric Le Sage (piano), Others. RCA (6 CDs)

[frgraybean]

The first theme in the Piano Concerto is an earworm. Love it!

[LarryReeve-uy]

Thanks for teaching me more about classical music!

[fred]

Fortunately it is available for streaming on Spotify.

[alanmcginn]

This is a true find. I have the Erato Poulenc cube. But this is great stuff!!

[davidleeson]

It's also available (from iTunes and Presto Music) as a download. And strangely, the discs that make up this set are also available for purchase as individual downloads, if you want to pay more

[giveall]

I really love Poulenc. Especially his sonatas. As a clarinetist I consider that one as most beautiful composition for clarinet in 20th century (well, my humble opinion, of course). Speaking of instruments, I just saw the video of Jan Novák's Concertos (incl. the flute one). How about to make some videos based on instruments concertos or sonatas? Something like top 10 compositions for clarinet of 20th, 19th century, or decade etc.? Oboe, flute, then bassoon etc... :)

[Bobbnoxious]

Poulenc was a dog person. I believe his favorite pet was a fox terrier named Mickey.

[GG-cupg]

Thanks, Dave. I enjoyed listening to some of the Le Sage Poulenc chamber sonatas today. I enjoyed Le Sage’s characterful approach.
On a related note, hardly anyone has reviewed the Matteo Fossi “complete” Poulenc chamber music (3 discs) on Brilliant. It really deserves some publicity. It’s a good modern recording, a fantastic bargain and it’s not like there are that many versions available of this music. Any chance you may review it at some point?

[barrylyons]

It's absolutely criminal that Sony issued these boxes without notes! I hate that. It's like the classical division of Sony has contempt for its customers. For years I chose not to buy these note-less boxes (the booklets only contain track listings), but I eventually broke down for this one and for the Perahia Chopin box.

[yvonnekoopman]

No Eric Le Sage currently available (on CD) as you said but I did see complete sets by Eric Parkin on Chandos and Gabriel Tacchini on EMI. There's also a Naxos series by Olivier Cazal and Pascal Roge on Decca but not in a box. I am curious to know how those sets compare?

[zdl]

A good alternative is Pascal Roge's all Poulenc box-set on Decca (5 CDs, but no piano concertos), if it's still available!

[earlofmar]

I think it's Babar and not Barbar... I had a nice big picture book of Babar the elephant when I was a kid, used to sit with my parents and tell them stories based on the pictures ;)

[juandavidramirezquintero]

Dave, do you like Paul Crossley’s rendition on Sony? Solo piano, not the chamber works.