Piano encores

Description

Ritual of the end of the concert, the encore is a special moment highly appreciated by the audience. Which piece will the performer play? The encore offers this more relaxed moment where everyone waits with great curiosity for the chosen titles. The listener then has the feeling of getting to know the artist better by discovering the works played - often of short duration, which reveal their tastes and thus a little more of their personality. Thus, pianist Tristan Pfaff primarily performs pieces that he loves. The common thread of this record reflects his pleasure in playing works from various eras and origins, by several composers - each represented by a single and unique work, and different techniques. From the Baroque period with Bach to 20th-century music with Prokofiev or Kabalevski, a very broad musical horizon is offered. Popular song is also represented with "The man I love" by Gershwin in its piano version. After two records, one dedicated to Liszt and the other to Schubert, the pianist shows here that he is not a specialist of a particular composer or style. He primarily follows one of the many pieces of advice from Schumann inscribed in the score of his "Album for the Young": "Nothing great in art is accomplished without enthusiasm" or "To have music not only in the fingers but also in the head and heart." From this composer, Tristan Pfaff particularly loves "The poet speaks," the ultimate tender miniature from "Children's Scenes" op. 15. All this eclecticism allows the listener to get as close as possible to the musician, accompanying him in his most sincere inner being, with this succession of pieces without precise construction. As a young child, he worked on some of them ("5 Leichte Variationen," op. 51 by Kabalevski or "Moment musical" op. 94 no. 3 by Schubert). Others recall the innocence of childhood, but are nonetheless interesting ("Butter Bread" by Mozart, the sublime Prelude in C minor BWV 999 by Bach, or "Funeral March for a Marionette" by Gounod). Three works are of greater significance, "Clair de lune," the dreamy third movement of "Suite bergamasque" by Debussy, and two arrangements for piano made by the composers themselves: "Valse triste" by Sibelius and "Ritual Dance of Fire," a virtuosic piece from the opera "The Love Witch" by de Falla. Tristan Pfaff performs famous works from the piano repertoire, such as "Hungarian Dance No. 1" by Brahms, "Gymnopédie No. 1" by Satie, "The Montagues and the Capulets" by Prokofiev, or the Nocturne op. 9 no. 2 by Chopin. But he also offers more rarely played pieces, "In das Album der Fürstin Metternich" by Wagner, "Tango" by Albéniz, "Sentimental Waltz" by Tchaikovsky, "Foglio d'Album" by Puccini, and one of the sixty-six Lyric Pieces by Grieg, "In Spring." Tristan Pfaff, whose greatest pleasure is to play on stage, delivers on this record, recorded in very few takes, a succession of encores... these beloved works offered to the public.