Naxos has done it again! Francis Poulenc’s delicious Concert Champêtre for harpsichord and orchestra, surely the finest work of its genre, also is one of the most difficult to bring off. The problem is one of balance: it was composed for a huge Pleyel harpsichord, which had the dynamic range of a modern grand piano. Usually it’s played on a tiny little Baroque instrument, with the balance problems left to the recording engineers, who either blow it completely or adjust matters electronically, which is equally unconvincing. Here, finally, is a performance that works: the right-sounding instrument, dazzling execution, and excellent sonics. The same holds true for the Organ Concerto, appropriately captured in live performance before a very quiet audience in Notre-Dame Cathedral, Paris. In fact, not since the recordings supervised by the composer himself have we had this music rendered with such idiomatic flair.
