1920s Paris was a melting pot of artistic tastes and styles. Among its stars were Les Six, whose music was defiantly short, punchy, stripped back, and insouciantly witty (a song based on a cocktail recipe, anyone?). In this concert the outstanding Duo Jatekok tackle Poulenc鈥檚 dizzying, dazzling concerto for two pianos while Ilan Volkov rediscovers the witty, mock-Baroque stylings of Les Six鈥檚 only female member, Germaine Tailleferre. And for contrast, just the sort of large-scale 19th century work Les Six were rebelling against: Saint-Sa毛ns鈥檚 Third Symphony, a crowd-pleaser from its mysterious opening to its show-stopping, cymbal-clashing finale.
