Poulenc

[JimL]

Well, I'm not sure if Poulenc really belongs here, as he is not a Romantic composer, either in style or in period.  Although he is tonal, he has moments of polytonality, as does his fellow member of Les Six, Milhaud.  I must admit he is one of my favorite 20th-Century composers, and I'd like to see the purview of this forum stretched a little bit to include composers such as Poulenc and the other members of his group.  Well, maybe not Milhaud.

[Alan Howe]

Well, I'm not sure if Poulenc really belongs here

No need to worry, Jim. We could argue about all manner of composers who maybe don't belong, but who have already been the subject of discussion here. As long as we don't back too far or forwards to the peddlars of noise...

Back to Poulenc. Anybody like the gorgeous Flute Sonata? Proper music, that!

[JimL]

He composed several wind sonatas, and all of them are equally excellent, IMHO.

[FBerwald]

What about the Ist movement of his beautiful Piano concerto. Its one of my fav. along with the IInd movement of this concerto for two pianos!

[Amphissa]

Yes, the second movement of the Concerto for Two Pianos is really quite nice. Maybe I've just listened to too much Magnard, Debussy, Myaskovsky, Wagner and Vaughan Williams but my ears hear nothing ugly or abrasive or terribly dissonant in these two piano concertos. To me, the distinctive element is the humor and fun.

Of course, it is true that humor and fun is rare in mainstream Romantic music. Perhaps that's a topic for a different thread, though.