LE PIANO FRANCAIS

In her program LE PIANO FRANCAIS, Oni Buchanan delves into the expansive artistry of French composers, through the fantastic wealth and variation of their works for solo piano. "Le Piano Francais" spans more than three centuries of music, from the early Baroque keyboard works of Francois Couperin, through the high romanticism of Gabriel Faure, the impressionistic sounds of Debussy and Ravel, and the synaesthetic shimmer of Messiaen.

Thematically, the program explores the abundant connections between the composers and their chosen musical inspirations. In addition to Couperin's Nightingale in Love, we also hear from the Oiseaux Tristes (sad birds) of Ravel and encounter multitudes of transcribed birdsong in Messiaen's Regard des Anges. In Debussy's Japanese-inflected Pagodes and in the solemn tollings of Ravel's Valley of the Bells, we hear panoramic landscapes layered with cross-rhythms ringing in the breeze. Exploring sounds of other countries and other eras, Ravel and Debussy both offer works employing a Spanish musical vocabulary, while Faure's Nocturne seems almost medieval in its sonic choices, evoking images of ancient armor, abandoned castles, and cobwebbed passageways. This haunted loneliness is revisited in Ravel's Une barque sur l'ocean (A Boat on the Ocean). But humor also abounds, from the ridiculous melodrama of Couperin's Plaintive Songbirds and the frantic scurrying of his Frightened Linnet, to the tumbling spectacle of the jester in Ravel's Alborada del gracioso as he amuses us all with his effortless acrobatics.

Piano works to be performed on LE PIANO FRANCAIS program include:

Couperin, set of works from Pieces de Clavecin
Faure, Nocturne in Eb minor, Op. 33, No. 1
Debussy, Estampes
Messiaen, XIV. Regard des Anges (from Vingt Regards)
Ravel, Miroirs (complete)