DEBARGUE, LUCAS

De Franse pianist Lucas Debargue (1990) behaalt in 2015 de vierde plek bij het prestigieuze Tchaikosky Competitie. Toch werd hij gezien als de echte winnaar. Hij krijgt de prijs van de muziekrecensenten en Valery Gergiev laat hem tijdens het winnaars gala spelen. Niet alleen het pianospel van Debargue is bijzonder, vooral zijn weg naar het podium is opmerkelijk. Als elfjarige begint Debargue met pianospelen, om op zijn zeventiende over te gaan op de basgitaar. Drie jaar later gaat hij op uitnodiging van een Festival weer pianospelen. Door Rena Shereshevskaya wordt hij zozeer geïnspireerd dat hij alsnog voor een loopbaan als pianist kiest. Dit live album is een weergave van Debargue‘s eerste concert, na de Tchaikosky Competition. Debargue imponeert met zijn interpretatie van Ravel’s Gaspard de la Nuit.


Lucas Debargue plays Scarlatti, Chopin, Liszt & Ravel


Chopin:
Ballade No. 4 in F minor, Op. 52

Grieg:
Lyric Pieces Op. 47: No. 3 - Melody

Liszt:
Mephisto Waltz No. 1

Ravel:
Gaspard de la Nuit

Scarlatti, D:
Keyboard Sonata K24 in A major
Keyboard Sonata K208 in A major
Keyboard Sonata K132 in C major
Keyboard Sonata K141 in D minor

Schubert:
Moments Musicaux, D780: No. 3 in F minor

Lucas Debargue (piano)


The most-talked about artist of the 2015 Tchaikovsky Competition created huge excitement and world-wide media attention with his riveting background and “genius-like playing” (Boris Berezovksy). Debargue, who is 25, started the piano late at 11 years old, learning mostly in isolation. After dropping the instrument for three years to play in a rock band and study literature, he started formal piano training aged 20. Placed 4th, he was described by media as “the real winner” of the competition and received the Music Critics’ Association award as “the pianist whose incredible gift, artistic vision and creative freedom have impressed the critics as well as the audience.” Valery Gergiev, the competition’s chairman, broke protocol by letting Debargue play in the winners’ gala and not prizewinner Dmitry Masleev. Lucas Debargue's debut album is a live recording at the Salle Cortot in Paris and documents his first concert in his hometown after the competition. The centrepiece of his first recording is Ravel’s monumentally challenging Gaspard de la nuit. One of the most difficult piano pieces in the repertoire, which Debargue performed to sensational acclaim during the second round of the competition. “It’s a great spiritual work. It’s like a Goya painting, filled with light and darkness.” The recording also includes four coruscating sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti; Chopin’s emotionally intense Ballade No. 4; Liszt’s devilish Mephisto Waltz; and smaller works by Grieg (Lyric Pieces op. 47 no. 3, “Melody”) and Schubert (Moment musical op. 94 no. 3). Debargue says, “I chose the repertoire to go from early Scarlatti to Ravel, with a wonderful romantic bridge of Chopin and Liszt to go between them".