Waltz-Improvisation on BACH

Fast forward almost a century to 1932 when Françis Poulenc (1899-1963) wrote his Waltz-Improvisation on the Name of BACH. Growing up in affluent surroundings—his father was head of the largest chemical corporation in France—Poulenc could easily have become a musical dilettante. Talent passed to Poulenc from his mother, and by his late teens he was already making a name in Parisian circles devoted to new music. Even before receiving his first formal composition lessons, Poulenc became associated with a loose-knit group of composers known Les Six who admired Erik Satie, Jean Cocteau, and recent Dadaist trends in art. His music explores mimicry of past styles, sometimes including direct quotations from Mozart and others, and in general maintains a freshness and verve that are aurally apparent. Between 1932 and 1959, Poulenc composed a series of piano Improvisations as homages to various styles and important people, including figures as dissimilar as Franz Schubert (#12) and Edith Piaf (#15)! Apart from opening the Waltz-Improvisation with the B-A-C-H motive, Poulenc reverses the pitches at the midpoint (thus, H-C-A-B) and, as a final clever jab, writes in a four-note chord cluster using all of the pitches simultaneously.

(c) Jason Stell