A New Poulenc Trio!

As many of you may know, I recently finished my DMA in bassoon at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. My final document research was an analysis of Poulenc's Trio for oboe, bassoon, and piano through the lens of sexual politics. In short, my reading of the Poulenc Trio finds that Poulenc uses the bassoon as the representation of the gay voice in the socio-political sphere by means of tonal manipulation, phrase interruption, and other techniques; the piano as the heteronormative discourse often assumed in gendered/sexualized readings of music; and the oboe as a force attempting to balance the two, much as Poulenc tried to do in his own life. The document is forthcoming from the University of Nevada and you better believe when it's available, I'll link to it.

So I was very pleased when it was announced that Sandro Caldini had found and edited a second​ edition of Poulenc's Trio. This is so exciting as both a scholar and performer because the changes Poulenc made really bring the bassoon and oboe to the fore, eliminate some of the doubling in the piano, and truly mark this piece as Poulenc's departure from the shackles of pianistic wind writing!

You can check out the video here which includes Sandro's lecture as well as a full performance by Saxton Rose, Nicholas Daniel, and Naruhiko Kawaguchi: