L'Embarquement pour Cythère (Poulenc)
arrangement for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn and piano (2002)
In 1951, Poulenc wrote film music for Le Voyage en Amérique de Henri Lavorelle. From his score, he extracted this lovely valse-musette that he published for two pianos under the title L'Embarquement pour Cythère (the name of a painting by Watteau).
In fall 2002 I had the great joy of performing Mozart Quintet and Poulenc Sextet with the Rossignol Ensemble, a London based wind quintet. For that purpose, I arranged Poulenc's waltz that was performed as a delightful encore.
The performance took place at Leighton House, Kensington on the 28th October 2002. The performers were:
- Caroline Ardron, flute
- Nick Theobald, oboe
- Sue Bishop, clarinet
- Hugh Rosenbaum, bassoon
- Rob Bentall, horn
- Laurent Beeckmans, piano
As there was also a bass clarinet player involved in the concert (for the performance of Janáček Wind Sextet), I wrote a facultative extra part for that instrument (that was performed by Ian Noonan).