Revered pianist Alexis Weissenberg's gorgeous solo piano arrangement of an equally gorgeous song by French singer/songwriter Charles Trenet. The story goes that Weissenberg himself never performed this piece in public because he was afraid programming popular songs (amongst other trivialities) would damage his career and image as a classical pianist. I share no such reservations and firmly believe that great music will always be great music regardless of its genre or who is playing it. This piece was originally published along with five other Trenet arrangements in an incognito album under the alias 'Mr. Nobody', the identity of whom was not revealed to the public until many, many years later.

This is a piece that I have been enamoured with since the very first time I listened to it. I finally began working my way through it over the summer and the end result has brought me a truly immense amount of joy. I'm certain that this is a work that will stay with me and find its way into my programs for a very long time. Inspiration was drawn from the always great, always extraordinary Marc Andre Hamelin who is also the one that brought this piece back into the concert hall by transcribing it by ear from its original 1950s recording by Weissenberg, or rather, 'Mr. Nobody'.

En Avril, a Paris - Arr. Weissenberg/Trenet

The French piano repertoire remains one of mankind's greatest achievements in art.

This impromptu, as much as it yearns to be called a tarantella, is one of Faure's most scintillating miniatures; it's truly a shame that it and the rest of the set are not programmed more often. 

Its rhythmic panache, coupled with the melodic ingenuity so typical of the French towards the turn of the century, helps it stand out as a clear transition between the composer's early and middle periods.

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