The Music of France: Kickoff challenge!
May is the month of French music! Share your favorite pieces by French composers with us this month as we explore this vibrant and beautiful art! Today is the kickoff livestream, tune in to learn a bit about this challenge and get started on the right foot!
Find the start time in your time zone by clicking the photo or following this event link:
https://app.tonebase.co/piano/live/player/french-music-challenge-may-2022
We are going to be using this thread to gather suggestions and questions!
- What questions do you have on this topic?
- Any particular area you would like me to focus on?
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This is not specifically on French music...it is just something that I discovered today at the Library:
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/234672/every-good-boy-does-fine-by-jeremy-denk/
Jeremy Denk - Memoir - Every Good Boy Does Fine
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Probably my favorite French composer is Cecile Chaminade, who is rather obscure, but I think her music is really well written. She lived from 1861 to 1944, and composed from age eight to nearly eighty, and was quite popular during it (though I think that began to decrease with the 20's and Schonberg). She was quite popular with Queen Victoria, and indeed, Chaminade's Organ Prelude was played at the Queen's funeral. She is mainly known as a melodist, and, though she had a great mastery over the melody, that is not her only accomplishment. In her later works, from an earlier simple ABA form, an almost Haydenesque Sonata Form develops, even though there isn't always a second theme. In pieces such as Pecheurs de Nuit, there is only one theme, just developed in several ways. While she mainly wrote salon music, she also wrote many "serious works", such as the etudes, which show a mastery of composition. I'll be working on some of her pieces this month.
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Les Baricades, Misterieuses - Very beautiful!
Ravel's Prelude - Also very beautiful!
That was lovely that you demonstrated (by sight reading) a brief section of a Chaminade piece. I recall that Genevieve often spoke of Chaminade in previous LiveStream Chats. Chaminade was prolific indeed!
Gounod - luscious piece that you played
Trifonov - your most recent live concert! Sounds wonderful!
The V. Le jardin Feerique - quite beautiful...loved the glissandi!
Thank you, Dominic! Thank you, everyone who contributed!
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I'm sorry I missed the live event, but hope to participate in the challenge anyway. I looked back on all the pieces I've played in recitals the past few years and realized about half of them were by French composers. While I don't have time to build something from scratch this month, I have been wanting to revisit "Pavane for a Dead Princess" to see how it sounds now that I have matured somewhat as a musician and have a new Yamaha grand piano. I see there might be a few others playing it, though. Would "Clair de Lune" be an alternate choice if I can give it a fresh coat of paint? If you need something different, I can play Rameau's "Musette en Rondeau," which is a charming little piece I heard on Olafsson's "Debussy/Rameau" album. What do you think?