Francis Poulenc (1899-1963)
Fifteen Improvisations, FP 63, 113, 170, 176
Three Novelettes, FP 47
Three Intermezzi, FP 71, 118
Presto in B-flat Major, FP 70
Thème varié, FP 151
Mélancolie, FP 105
Paul Berkowitz (piano)
rec. 2023, St. Peter’s Church, Boughton Monchelsea, UK
Meridian CDE84674 [52]

Those readers familiar with Paul Berkowitz’s previous recordings will be blinking in astonishment at seeing his name connected with that of Francis Poulenc. The Canadian American pianist, a former student of Rudolf Serkin and Mieczysław Horszowski, focused his previous efforts in the recording studio within the Germanic canon, setting down the complete Schubert Sonatas and major works of Schumann and Brahms. He is a serious, even profound musician who excels in that music. Berkowitz is to be commended for exploring Poulenc late in life. The majority of musicians are content to discover their own particular wheelhouse and then toil permanently within it. Specialists in the Germanic piano repertoire in particular hesitate to explore French music; the late Alfred Brendel never touched it, nor did Arthur Schnabel and other similar pianists.

We have recordings of Poulenc interpreting his own music and thus have a pretty clear idea of how it should go. Unlike some composers who were rotten executants, Poulenc was an extraordinarily gifted pianist (and recognized as such in his own time). His style did not vary greatly in performance. He pedaled effusively, used little rubato (though always letting the music breathe), and generally played with much color and in a very flowing manner, allowing the music to naturally move forward. The style of the music itself is “easy,” in the sense that any depths that it contains must speak plainly, articulated by the poignant harmonies, singing melodies with a long line, and colors created by varieties of touch and pedaling, rather than by rubato or other changes imposed by the interpreter.

If we use Poulenc’s own approach as a metric, Berkowitz scores in some of the slow music. The voicing and shaping is beautiful throughout the disc. He follows Poulenc’s many complex threads with a careful ear for the melodic line as it relates to the bass and subsidiary voices. He does not insert unwarranted rubato and faithfully follows the push/pull markings written as tempi in the music. Sometimes there is a lack of a sense of the longer pulse (the listener hears four beats to a bar instead of one to a bar in Mélancolie, for example, which grounds the ethereal melody), but this is usually not a problem. The reflective performances of the 13^th Improvisation and 3^rd Novelette are particularly effective for their gentle color and floating tone.

Unfortunately, the fast pieces are generally not fast enough, giving a sluggish impression that is the opposite of Poulenc’s sunny energy. The first improvisation for example is marked ♩ = 160. Berkowitz plays it at roughly ♩ = 138. In a short movement with the marking “Presto ritmico,” the lost ‘clicks’ amount to a completely changed character, rendering it dogged rather than bubbling. The second Novelette, marked half note = 138 is played by Berkowitz at ca. half note = 80. In his 1932 recording of the Novelette, Poulenc himself plays at his notated metronome marking, blowing through the piece in roughly 1min10sec. The difference is night and day. Poulenc’s performance is spritely and mischievous with a characteristically wistful second section that still pushes forward (“Absolument sans ralentir”). Berkowitz is stately and rather dry. Although I do not believe that a musician must be a slave to Poulenc’s metronome marks (some are ridiculously fast, particularly in his vocal music), the character of the music must be preserved. Berkowitz’s main goal in the fast music appears to have been accuracy of rhythm and pitches, but ultimately it may have been better to do multiple takes and go for the gusto.

Berkowitz is at his best in the large-scale Thème varié of 1951. In his excellent (and thorough) booklet notes, the pianist points out that this is not among the composer’s most-performed works, citing Poulenc biographer Roger Nichols as saying that “…the piece is today barely heard outside performances of the complete piano music.” Berkowitz then opines, “The Thème varié is a fine work.” He goes on to call it “imaginative,” comparing it to the music of Beethoven, Bach, and Brahms. He plays the piece as if he believes in it, investing the theme with great dignity and clearly enjoying himself throughout the work’s many varied moods. Although the tempi in the fast movements remain on the slow side, they do not draw attention to themselves given the extremely episodic nature of the music. (Poulenc generally goes Fast-Slow-Fast-Slow in his variation order.)

This release may not work for those who like their Poulenc fast and breezy with periodic injections of bittersweet sentiment. It may, however, be an effective gateway to the composer for listeners who find Poulenc to be too shallow for their tastes; for those folks, Berkowitz’s serious take on the Frenchman may be just what the doctor ordered.

Richard Masters