Claude Debussy - Maurice Ravel - Henri Duparc - Camille Saint-Saëns - Cécile Chaminade - Gabriel Fauré - Francis Poulenc

Après un Rêve Belle Époque – Nights at the Piano

Emmanuel Despax

Label: Signum Classics
Format: CD
Barcode: 0635212074725

Catalog number: SIGCD 747
Releasedate: 07-07-23

- Aprés un rêve is ED’s own transcription so WORLD PREMIERE

- An opportunity to hear and perhaps discover rarely played / rarely recorded wonderful works (Chaminade nocturne, Duparc aux étoiles, Poulenc Les soirées de Nazelles), alongside central pillars of the repertoire (Ravel Gaspard, Clair de lune, Danse macabre etc)

- There is no good reliable score for the Danse Macabre Horowitz’s arrangement. Some exist, but contain a lot of mistakes. So the only way was to use these as a basis and listen carefully to Horowitz’s performance to correct them, to be as faithful as possible to his own transcription.

- The poetry curated on the album to go alongside the music

"Après un rêve" is an album that holds a special significance to me on a personal level. It is an ode to the French Belle Époque repertoire, depicting the beauty of dreams and the night. The title is inspired by Fauré's mesmerising song, which I have arranged here for piano solo. I have always been drawn to the evocative and poetic nature of this music, as well as its remarkable diversity, finesse, and capacity to create exquisite orchestral textures on the piano.

This album is also a tribute to my grandfather, Jacques Charpentreau, a French poet who adored this repertoire and frequently drew inspiration from the night in his works.

I have curated some of his poetry, as well as works by other poets he admired to complement this music, taking the listener on an immersive poetic and musical journey through this nocturnal landscape:

Le piano dans la nuit

Écoute le piano

Comme une voix qui chante

Cette complainte lente

C'est la nuit qui descend

Sur la peine du monde

Caresse de l'espace

Quelques notes qui passent

Comme un souffle de l'air

Comme un soupir du feu

Comme un chant de la terre

Comme un frisson de l'eau

La grâce la douceur