French composer Francis Poulenc was at a relative’s home working on a piece of music. His four year old niece who was clearly not a fan of 20th century modern music placed her copy of Babar The Elephant on the piano and asked her uncle to play it. He improvised music on the spot to fit the classic children story which eventually became the groundwork for his composition based on the same book.

Pianist Daniel Goodman and Jack McCreless gives an entertaining performance of this combination of children tale and music. It is almost impossible to resist comparing this to the much more popular Peter and The Wolf by Prokofiev of which you can find a performance by Goodman and McCreless here. I find Babar to be a much more interesting composition if perhaps a little too challenging for most children for whom the story is directed. It is also tempting to discuss how the cute little elephant was actually justifying the excesses of French colonialism but I’ll try to avoid that sand trap. Composed in the 1940s, there are some charming musical themes in the pieces but is still quite modern and a bit dissonant. However McCreless’s narration keeps the story on track and sets the scene for each musical interlude. It’s an unusual but endearing work.

The work is available from the Piano Society in 128kbps MP3 format

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