Songs Without Singers #3

For the third in my voice-less song series, I'm not quite piano blogging; instead, I've posted a recording from a recital I gave a few years back. During the intermission for that recital, I was thinking about the fact that I didn't have an encore prepared. I pulled a Poulenc volume off the shelf, opened to my all-time favorite song, played through it and decided it would be just right. (I was inspired by a suggestion the late Dr. Robert McCoy once made in vocal lit class about this accompaniment being satisfying on its own.) So, after toiling through Brahms' Handel variations, I walked onstage with book in hand and played Fleurs sans singer. It was at least as impromptu a performance as the Chausson and Strauss songs I posted earlier this week.

{Listen here or in the new MMmusic jukebox.}



In other blog news, perhaps you've noticed the new little MMmusic jukebox over in the margin. It now includes the three singer-free songs, plus the Poulenc mouvement perpétuel I recently videoblogged about; to add a little weight, I also decided to tack on two Scriabin sonatas from a 2006 recital. They're live performances, so they're far from perfect, but these are such crazy wonderful works. They each begin as quietly and contemplatively as the other pieces on the list, although they don't stay that way. All in all, a pretty quirky jukebox recital.