American Touches

As far back as I can remember, with my father playing the piano and my mother and sister being actors, theater and music have always been part of my life. What's more, I was immersed in American and French musicals from an early age: West Side Story, Fame, Peau d'âne... I used to put on shows with my friends, dancing, singing, dressing up... all of which was synonymous with immense happiness. I naturally became a “classical” pianist, while developing my taste for Variety, Musicals, Jazz or Rock... Playing the notes, of course, but telling stories is what fascinates me: sad stories, funny stories, happy stories, love stories... that's how I see all music. Gershwin and Bernstein are so evocative of images and feelings, that they imposed themselves on me for this first record. I built this recording around Bernstein's Candide Overture. A very joyful, rhythmic and orchestral piece, it was the starting point for this American program, halfway between jazz and art music. The Symphonic Dances from West Side Story quickly became an obvious choice for me, as this music reminds me of my childhood, and it's also a huge challenge to transcribe it (just like the overture to Candide), not least because of the prominent role of percussion. My attraction to Bernstein naturally led me to one of his illustrious predecessors, twenty years his senior: Gershwin... An American in Paris, a symphonic poem, is a very inspiring piece of program music for expressing orchestral piano playing. I also wanted to illuminate my transcriptions with purely pianistic works by these same composers: Bersntein's Touches, commissioned by the Van Cliburn competition, and Gershwin's Three Preludes.