Seeing the poster, we shudder: would Bramwell Tovey have had time to record between what he believed to be the start of his remission from cancer, mid-2021, and his death on July 13? Eh yes ! From March 10-12, 2022, Tovey was in the studio in Watford, England, etching Poulenc. And it was Ralph Couzens, the “boss” of Chandos himself, who concocted the soundtrack for him. By receiving this disc, basically, what a symbol! Tovey for his latest record records Francis Poulenc! Could one imagine a more dizzying artistic shortcut? Tovey, this witty leader, could be teasing or very serious. His communion of spirit with the language of the French composer is obvious and his Sinfonietta turns from laughter to tenderness with much more naturalness than the recent version of Slobodeniouk at BIS. Associate the Sinfonietta with Model animals, a ballet inspired by the fables of La Fontaine, is a great idea and Bramwell Tovey draws these sound portraits with sharp strokes. What a moving swan song.
Click here for an excerpt.
To see in video