Once upon a time - Children’s tales for piano and narrator
Francis POULENC (1899-1963) The Story of Babar (1940) [27:00]
Richard WILSON (b.1941) A Child’s London (1984) [8:22]
Soulima STRAVINSKY (1910-1994) Three Fairy Tales (1976) [24:05]
Henri BARRAUD (b.1900) Histoires pour les Enfants (1930) [7:29]
Haskell Smith (piano); Robert Aubry Davis (narrator)
rec. St Peter’s Historic Church, New York City, July 1998
ONGAKU RECORDS 024-114 CD [66:56]
I cannot imagine a time when children will cease to respond to the power of
a story simply told by a single narrator. Parents, uncles, aunts and grandparents
all know the immense shared enjoyment that this can give. Funny voices, strange
rhymes and the use of repeated passages can all play their part effectively.
That said, few, even amongst musicians, are able to emulate the oft-repeated
claim that Poulenc originally improvised “L’histoire de Babar” when
the niece of a friend put Jean de Brunhoff’s book on the piano and asked
him to play it. Maybe this isn’t true, but I am convinced that to be
effective a performance of the work needs above all to sound spontaneous. This
is perhaps the main problem with the present disc. The narration in particular
is plodding and too knowing in tone, and the piano part is played in an accurate
but wholly unimaginative way. I have not been able to make the experiment but
find it hard to imagine a child sitting still for more than the first few minutes
of what seems in this performance an interminable tale.
This is a great pity, as discs of stories with piano are not exactly thick
on the ground. Even the Poulenc is not recorded very often, and when it is
it is usually in the orchestral version arranged by Jean Francaix. It can be
very effective - and in my experience even if read in the original language
as an aid to French lessons - but it does rely very much on both performers
making much more of it. I understand that Mr Davis is known in the United States
for his radio programmes about early music and singer-songwriters. I have heard
none of them, but I must admit to finding his tone of voice unconvincing as
a teller of children’s stories. I got used to his adenoidal accent fairly
quickly but there always seemed to be something patronising about his narrations
rather than relying on simple sincerity or outright theatricality, either of
which would be more effective. Haskell Smith, the pianist, plays well and is
recorded cleanly but there remains something too literal and studied about
his approach which again tends to reduce the impact of the piece as a whole.
The other three items are interesting but do not amount to much by comparison
with the Poulenc. Richard Wilson is a former pupil of Randall Thompson and
is now Professor of Music at Vassar. His short set of six pieces was written
for his daughter’s piano lessons when she was eight. They are pleasant
but instantly forgettable as is the linking fanciful but uninteresting narrative
of a child’s visit to London. The pieces by Soulima Stravinsky and Henri
Barraud are both essentially sets of piano pieces, each preceded by its title
read by Mr Davis. They too are pleasant and, especially the Soulima Stravinsky,
they do stick in the memory more and are worth hearing more than once. Whether
they are sufficient reason in themselves to purchase the disc remains doubtful
unless, that is, you are a fan of either of the artists. The field remains
open for a really satisfying recording of the Poulenc - perhaps as a DVD with
the original pictures.
John Sheppard