Carte Blanche

by Jean-Yves Thibaudet

Overview

Jean-Yves Thibaudet's Carte Blanche is nothing more or less than a classic encore album, with short pieces in a virtuoso or lyrical mode that the performer uses to top off a program and display a bit of special knowledge in the process. There is a booklet note in interview format, similar to many others except that in this case, the interviewer is Renee Fleming. She characterizes the contents as a dessert menu, which is accurate enough, although several pieces, such as Gabriel Pierne's Etude de concert, Op. 13, allow Thibaudet to display his chops in full. The pianist explains that the works hold personal significance for him; the Chopin Waltz in A minor, Op. posth., for example, was the first work he remembers hearing. The opening Pride and Prejudice Suite of Dario Marianelli fits the plan as Thibaudet was involved with that film. It doesn't quite fit with the rest of the music, however. Thibaudet does better when he turns to popular song, which has always been one of his specialties, and with Earl Wild's adaptation of Embraceable You, one of the Seven Virtuoso Etudes after Gershwin, he effectively puts this together with virtuosity in a tremendously compelling performance. He concludes with his own arrangement of Barber's Adagio for strings, which he correctly notes is quite difficult to remake for the piano. The collection as a whole neatly balances the personal and public-facing qualities of such releases, and it's a lot of fun in every way and a fine representative of the work of this exponent of Gallic flair. Also notable is the sound from a hitherto little-known venue, Zipper Hall at the Colburn School in Los Angeles. ~ James Manheim

Product Details

Release Date:	09/10/2021
Label:	Decca
UPC:	0028948520817
Rank:	249149

Tracks

1. Pride and Prejudice Suite for solo piano~I. Dawn
2. Pride and Prejudice Suite for solo piano~II. Leaving netherfield
3. Pride and Prejudice Suite for solo piano~III. Georgiana
4. Pride and Prejudice Suite for solo piano~IV. The Living Sculptures of Pemberley
5. Pride and Prejudice Suite for solo piano~Mrs Darcy
6. Le Tic-Toc-Choc, ou Les Maillotins
7. Sonata in F minor Kk 466
8. Waltz in G flat D Anh. 1/14 "kupelwieser-Walzer
9. Waltz No. 19 in A minor Op. posth.
10. Consolation No. 3 in D flat S172/3
11. Intermezzo in A major Op. 118 No. 2
12. Salut d'amour Op. 12
13. ¿¿tude de concert Op. 13
14. Goyescas~No. 4 Quejas, o La maja y el ruise¿¿or
15. prole do beb¿¿ (Book 1)~No. 7 O polichinelo
16. H¿¿tel (No. 2 in Banalit¿¿s)
17. Bo¿¿te ¿¿ musique
18. Boogie Woogie Etude
19. Pr¿¿lude path¿¿tique
20. 7 Virtuoso Etudes after Gershwin~No. 4 Embraceable You
21. When You Wish Upon a Star
22. En avril ¿¿ Paris
23. I'll Be Around
24. Adagio for Strings

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Jean-Yves Thibaudet   Primary Artist,Piano

Technical Credits

Francesco Perlangeli   Recording,Editing,Engineer
Ian Watson   Mastering Engineer
Sergei Parfenov   Engineer
Matt Read   Cover Design
Dominic Fyfe   Producer,Executive Producer
Jesse Kissel   Arranger
Neema Pazargad   Piano Technician
Frederick Vogler   Editing,Engineer,Producer,Recording,Recording Producer
Shura Cherkassky   Composer
Frederic Chopin   Composer
Edward Elgar   Composer
Renee Fleming   Interviewer
Francis Poulenc   Composer
Enrique Granados   Composer
Charles Trenet   Composer
George Gershwin   Original Material
Morton Gould   Composer
Leigh Harline   Composer
Richard Strauss   Arranger,Transcription
Jenny Stewart   Production Manager
Elisabeth Caren   Photography
Ned Washington   Composer
Jean-Yves Thibaudet   Arranger,Interviewee
Samuel Barber   Composer
Earl Wild   Composer
Alec Wilder   Composer
Dario Marianelli   Composer
Alexis Weissenberg   Arranger
Franz Schubert   Composer
Franz Liszt   Composer
Aldo Ciccolini   Arranger
Francois Couperin   Composer
Bill Charlap   Arranger,Composer
Johannes Brahms   Composer
Heitor Villa-Lobos   Composer
Domenico Scarlatti   Composer
Anne Schneider   Liner Note Translation
Joanne Baines   A&R
Gabriel Pierne   Composer
Pierre Sancan   Composer
Warwick Thompson   Interview Editor