Poulenc’s “Mouvements Perpétuals” — still moving at 100+

Program

The first movement, marked “Assez modéré,” features a playful and whimsical melody. Its simplicity is characteristic of Poulenc’s ability to create engaging music with a minimal number of notes.

The second movement, “Très modéré,” offers an introspective contrast. Its flowing lines and chromatic harmonic shifts create a sense of calm reflection.

The final movement, “Alerte,” brings the suite to a spirited conclusion. With its quick tempo and vitality, this movement captures the essence of “Perpetual Motion.”

I cannot help but be amused when I recognize that I thought my piano-teacher, Mrs. Jones was “elderly” when she taught me this piece in my tenth-grade (10th) grade year of high-school. Now, I am four years older than when she was my teacher.

I first performed “Mouvements Perpétuels” in our annual spring-recital in Mrs. Jones’ living room which was dominated by two massive and ancient, mahogany-black concert-grand Steinway pianos. With the pianos, that looked something like big caskets —along with her students and their parents, there was quite a crowd. As I remember, she had more than one recital each spring, with one featuring the more elementary students and the other with her advanced students like me.

Composed in 1918 when Poulenc was just 19 years old, “Mouvements Perpétuels” is a suite of three short movements for solo piano. The suite was premiered in December 1918 by Poulenc’s teacher, the renowned pianist Ricardo Viñes, and was dedicated to the artist Victor Hugo.

After returning to Paris from serving in the French Army during WWI, Poulenc associated with a number of other well known musicians and artists who were active in Paris at the time. This included Satie who was a musical mentor. I have previously recorded and written about Satie’s “Gymnopédies.”

This is my first audio-video recording project that features a four (4) video-camera setup. All four videos were recorded in HD (1920×1080) resolution and then edited using Blender 3D’s video-sequencer. Two of the videos are “portrait” aspect and two are in “landscape” aspect. Two cameras were iPhones (10 and 12), one is a Sony RX100 M7 “point-and-shoot,” and the fourth is an AKASO Brave4 action-camera that I originally purchased as a bike-camera.

I puzzled how to arrange four HD videos into a shared viewing space. This particular arrangement of the four videos was one of five or six that I sketched out on paper as an exercise. I am pleased with the result.

It was fun and rewarding to return to this piece after many (60+) years. This time, I was able to approach it with more than a half-century of additional musical understanding and experience. At the time I learned it, many of the passages were discordant to my ears. Now, I accept what I hear as “normal” from years of listening. Additionally, some of the more expansive hand stretches present in the notation —are made easier by having larger and older hands now.