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"A playful journey" (Concert for 2 Pianos and Orchestra / Movement 1)

Composer

Francis Poulenc

Instruments

Orchestra/Piano

This is a vivacious, filled with fun, concert for two pianos and orchestra, composed by Francis Poulenc. It begins with an intense, rhythmic, call-and-response motive between the pianos, a breathtaking craziness which makes you hold your breath, to give way, in a few seconds, to a serene and mysterious melody which later will transform into joyfulness and playfulness again.  At the final part of the first movement, through a mysterious and child-like melody, one feels like having lost sense of space and time, like flying in space. Imagine the launch of a spacecraft, with the intensity and overwhelmingness of the first part of its journey (beginning of the music), giving way to the serenity and mysteriousness of orbiting in dark space, transformed later to a sense of extreme happiness while observing the earth from above.  The alternation of moods, continues throughout the piece and is characteristic of Poulenc's style which generally combines frivolity with seriousness. A suggested title for this concert could be: "A playful journey".