Sony Classical: Michel Legrand — Concertos: Pour Piano & Pour Violoncelle (Audio CD)

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Product Details:

• Product Type: Audio CD
• Brand / Label: Sony Classical
• Composer: Michel Legrand
• Title: Concerto pour piano / Concerto pour violoncelle
• Soloists: Michel Legrand (piano), Henri Demarquette (cello)
• Orchestra: Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France
• Conductor: Mikko Franck
• Release Year: 2017
• UPC: 0889853937226
• Catalog Number: 88985393722
• Genre: Classical, Contemporary
• Condition: New / Factory Sealed

Product Features

• Format: CD
• Discs: 1
• Works: Concerto for piano; Concerto for cello
• Piano concerto commissioned by the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra and Gilmore International Keyboard Festival
• Fabriqué en U.E. (made in the EU)
• Language: Instrumental

Overview

Late in a remarkable life, Michel Legrand — the Oscar-winning composer of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and "The Windmills of Your Mind" — turned to the concert hall. This Sony Classical disc presents two of his concertos: one for piano, with the composer himself at the keyboard, and one for cello, played by Henri Demarquette.

The music is unmistakably Legrand: lush harmonies, long-breathed melodies and a jazz sensibility woven into classical forms. The piano concerto, written for him to perform, lets his pianism and his gift for melody share the spotlight. The cello concerto gives Demarquette room for the kind of singing line Legrand wrote so naturally.

Mikko Franck and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France provide warm, idiomatic support. The recording captures the orchestral colour without losing the intimacy of the solo writing.

For admirers of Legrand's film work who want to hear him in a concert setting — and for listeners who enjoy melodic, accessible contemporary concertos — this is a rewarding and unusual release.

Interesting Facts

• Michel Legrand (1932–2019) won three Academy Awards and five Grammys across a career spanning film, jazz and song.
• He composed the scores for Jacques Demy's The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and The Young Girls of Rochefort, French musical landmarks.
• The piano concerto on this disc was commissioned by the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra and the Gilmore International Keyboard Festival.
• Legrand was a formidable jazz pianist, recording with Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Stan Getz on the celebrated Legrand Jazz.
• Cellist Henri Demarquette is one of France's leading instrumentalists, known for both standard repertoire and new music.
• The recording features the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France under its music director Mikko Franck.

Track Listing

Michel Legrand: Concerto pour piano (with Michel Legrand, piano) Michel Legrand: Concerto pour violoncelle (with Henri Demarquette, cello)

Publishers

Released 2017 by Sony Classical / Sony Music Entertainment France (catalog 88985393722). Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, conducted by Mikko Franck. Made in the EU.

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