by Paul Appleby | Apr 24, 2018 | Song of the Day
I once asked a pianist friend of mine to read through “Tu vois le feu du soir” with me and he asked, “what’s this song about?” I have never had a more difficult time answering that question. So I just shared the text with him. Here is the mysterious, surreal text of...
by Benjamin Sosland | Feb 6, 2018 | Song of the Day
Ever fallen down the YouTube rabbit hole? You know, you innocently start looking for something and three hours later you look up from your iPad, having forsaken all social niceties (and biological necessities), and wonder what happened to the afternoon? I don’t know...
by Paul Gruber | Jul 26, 2017 | Song of the Day
Shortly after the 1940 Nazi invasion of France, Francis Poulenc was asked to write incidental music for a light drama by Jean Anouilh, Léocadia. It starred the celebrated French actress and singer Yvonne Printemps, and Poulenc took advantage of her presence in the...
by Steven Blier | May 17, 2017 | Song of the Day
The Wolf Trap concert I’m about to start rehearsing is another one of my quattro stagione pizzas: four groups of songs from four countries, each nationality introduced by a two-piano piece for Joseph Li and me to play. Joe had asked me to include some French music,...
by John Brancy | Oct 25, 2016 | Song of the Day
The transformative world of Francis Poulenc’s music lends itself well to any song recital program. Two seasons ago, after graduating from Juilliard, I chose to add “Priez Pour Paix” on a recital program I had concocted with pianist Peter Dugan for our...
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