Les chansons instrumentales: part 3

Jonathan McGovern baritone
Bartosz Woroch violin
Adam Newman viola
Philip Higham cello
Adam Walker flute
Mark Simpson clarinet
James Baillieu piano

Poulenc Rapsodie nègre
Violin Sonata
Clarinet Sonata
Songs

Hahn Romanesque for flute, viola and piano
Piano Quintet in F sharp minor

In the final instalment of the Poulenc-Hahn concert series curated by James Baillieu (pictured above), we go back to the very beginning of Poulenc’s career. Poulenc destroyed his first efforts at composition; the Rapsodie nègre of 1917 is his earliest surviving work. We also hear his only violin sonata, whose melancholic tone reflects the circumstances of its composition in Nazi- occupied France. The selection of works by Hahn evokes a calmer world. Mostly written between 1901 and 1910, they conjure all the beauty and confidence of turn-of-the-century Paris.

View the event programme