As my recording sessions are getting closer, I’m completely focused on Janáček and Ravel’s work featured on the CD, namely On an overgrown path, In the mists and Gaspard de la nuit. This is a Czech/French program I choose for my first solo CD, really expressing who I am : despite the obvious Frenchness of my name, I feel equally close to each composer. Before hitting the studio in December, I wanted to write and share with you about the works I’ll be recording in two months and something. Allons-y! First post: Leoš Janáček’s On an overgrown path.
This week, let us focus on the break-up of tonality, initiated in the late nineteenth century and clearly confirmed during the early twentieth century. With several articles about atonal, dodecaphonic music and serial music I want to make a few preliminary remarks before discovering the universe of a key figure in the postwar music world: Pierre Boulez.
Born in Hukvaldy in Moravia (Czech Republic), Leoš Janáček is a particularly interesting musical figure, quite unknown to the general public. Very inventive composer, his inspiration is drawn from his homeland’s folk songs.
Born on January 22, Henri Dutilleux celebrated his 93 years birthday yesterday. Henri Dutilleux’s work has a particular resonance for me, I just couldn’t pass by the Maestro’s birthday. I was introduced to his music very early on and I immediately liked it very much: Métaboles, Timbre, espace et mouvements, L’arbre des songes, Shadows of [...]
Good news! The French Composer Philippe Manoury launches his blog (unfortunately, available in English only through a translation gateway). There you will find besides his biography, his catologue and bibliography, some videos and musical analysis (at the moment Wozzeck). This space defines itself as a place of knowledge, of learning about (savant) music in general, [...]
Next week, I will give a recital in Prague. On the program, the famous Mozart’s sonata in C Major Kv 330. This sonata has been played many times, and by the biggest names… making it hard to tackle it, and even more difficult to assume in concert. Because yes, it’s actually the first time I’m going to perform Mozart in public!
Yesterday, 27th of november, was the birthday of the German composer Helmut Lachenmann, born in 1935. Luigi Nono’s disciple, he is considered as a major composer of our time and as the most representative of the “klangkomposition”.
Today, a video of a great American composer, who already left us for 16 years. This document dates from January 1960 and shows us John Cage playing his Water Walk during the TV show “I’ve got a secret”. At this time, John Cage was an extremely controversial character in the music world and taught experimental [...]
Some time ago, I was asked a really interesting question. Uncomfortable too : Why don’t you play Bach? I didn’t noticed this lack in my programs, and after having taken a look at my past programs, I indeed found out that Bach was reported missing. However, I’m fond of his music, and, as many pianists do, I grew up with the two books of Preludes and Fugues.
Each time I exhume the Chopin’s sonata in B-flat minor, I’m wondering what he had in mind while writing the final movement. Four pages of triplets as fast as possible, pianissimo finishing fortissimo. Strange, but I love it. What I love even more, it’s to take advantage of this final to play an atonal work just after. I don’t know why but moving on to Berio’s Sequenza IV from this nebulous last movement seems to me like the finest delicacy.
As my recording sessions are getting closer, I’m completely focused on Janáček and Ravel’s work featured on the CD, namely On an overgrown path, In the mists and Gaspard de la nuit. This is a Czech/French program I choose for my first solo CD, really expressing who I am : despite the obvious Frenchness of my name, I feel equally close to each composer. Before hitting the studio in December, I wanted to write and share with you about the works I’ll be recording in two months and something. Allons-y! First post: Leoš Janáček’s On an overgrown path.
This week, let us focus on the break-up of tonality, initiated in the late nineteenth century and clearly confirmed during the early twentieth century. With several articles about atonal, dodecaphonic music and serial music I want to make a few preliminary remarks before discovering the universe of a key figure in the postwar music world: Pierre Boulez.
Next week, I will give a 
Some time ago, I was asked a really interesting question. Uncomfortable too : Why don’t you play Bach? I didn’t noticed this lack in my programs, and after having taken a look at my past programs, I indeed found out that Bach was reported missing. However, I’m fond of his music, and, as many pianists do, I grew up with the two books of Preludes and Fugues.
Each time I exhume the Chopin’s sonata in B-flat minor, I’m wondering what he had in mind while writing the final movement. Four pages of triplets as fast as possible, pianissimo finishing fortissimo. Strange, but I love it. What I love even more, it’s to take advantage of this final to play an atonal work just after. I don’t know why but moving on to Berio’s Sequenza IV from this nebulous last movement seems to me like the finest delicacy.