24 / 64
Did you make any modifications to these waltzes by Schubert?
Absolutely none. I play them exactly as they are, very simply. I tried, in my
performance, to get as close as possible to the physical movement of the waltz.
To represent the French repertory, you transcribed a work by Paul
Ladmirault. Tell us about this astonishing discovery.
As with Joaquín Nin, I found out about Paul Ladmirault, a pupil of Gabriel Fauré,
through Guy Sacre’s book
La Musique de piano
. I really fell head over heels in love
with this piece (you have to admit that even the title,
Cinq Variations sur des airs de
biniou
,
3
is already highly intriguing!). The music reminds me of a concert I attended
as a child, in whichmy father, a classical flautist, had the opportunity to play Celtic
music and notably Breton dances. The piece exists in versions for orchestra and for
piano four hands. Inmaking an arrangement for two hands, I preferred toworkmy
way back from the colours of the orchestra, which gave my imagination greater
scope for rewriting for solo piano.
3. Five variations on bagpipe tunes fromTrégor (Trégor is a region of western Brittany). (Translator’s note)
24 TRAVEL ALBUM