Les Six & Satie - Works for Piano 4 Hands

The Guardian 60

Pascal and Ami Rogé
(Onyx)
The husband-and-wife piano duo delight in works by Poulenc, Milhaud, Tailleferre and co

The group of young French composers known as Les Six came together in the early 20th century in negative reaction to weighty German romanticism and a lot more besides. Their music, in contrast, is spare, airy, witty, sardonic and – unless you’re not in the mood, in which case wait till you are – irresistibly chirpy.

The French husband-and-wife piano duo Pascal and Ami Rogé have compiled an album of short and longer works by each of Les Six: George Auric, Louis Durey, Arthur Honegger, Darius Milhaud, Francis Poulenc and Germaine Tailleferre. Poulenc’s sparkling Capriccio and Tailleferre’s dreamy Jeux de plein air stand out; Auric and Durey, their names less well remembered, leave a fainter mark. Once in your head, Milhaud’s gleeful Scaramouche suite will never leave. (Listeners to Jess Gillam’s Radio 3 programme This Classical Life will recognise its theme tune, the Brasileira.)