Carte Blanche 60th birthday gift for French piano star Thibaudet
French star classical pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet has celebrated his 60th birthday with some favourites pieces he’s never recorded
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French star classical pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet has just turned 60 and as a birthday present the Decca people gave him “carte blanche” to choose a selection of his favourite pieces that he has never recorded.
The album Carte Blanche is highly personal selection and a delight from start to finish, from the reprise of his contribution to Dario Marianelli’s Pride and Prejudice movie soundtrack from 2005 to a bold and largely satisfying arrangement he made of Samuel Barber’s famous Adagio. You wouldn’t think its flowing ever-building lines would work for a solo keyboard but Thibaudet is nothing if not clever in this world premiere recording.
The 24 tracks are chronologically arranged by composer’s birth date after the Marianelli suite of five short extracts, and they reflect Thibaudet’s Broad Church repertoire, from classical mainstream (delightful Chopin, Liszt and Brahms) a little Baroque and some lesser known French works, including another premiere, Thibaudet’s arrangement of a song by Francis Poulenc and Gabriel Pierne’s Etude de concert.
Highlights for me are his reading of Quejas, O La maja y el ruisenor from Enrique Granados’s Goyescas, Morton Gould’s Boogie Woogie Etude and a Bill Evans-like rendering of Alec Wilder’s I’ll Be Around.
Thibaudet loves American standard and show tunes and does not disappoint with a lovely set, including a to-die-for arrangement of Harline and Washington’s Embraceable You.
Thibaudet has a huge following here in Australia and his recitals at Sydney Opera House have always been sellouts. His complete Debussy sets have rarely if ever been bettered and he is a sophisticated and dazzling showman, as well as a superb technician.
A Q&A with his great friend US diva Renee Fleming makes for entertaining and informative liner notes for this lovely birthday album.
Carte Blanche is available for $21.95 from classicsdirect.com.au or from the usual streaming and download platforms.
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